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2019 RDT


DreamKid

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This article is well worth the read

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/11/baltimore-ravens-defense-john-harbaugh-adjustments

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How the Ravens fixed their defense and became the NFL's best team

Expectations were high for the Baltimore Ravens heading into the 2019 season. We expected the offense to look … different in Year 2 of the Lamar Jackson era, but “different” doesn’t always mean better and you would have been totally justified in wondering if this new-fangled offense, which John Harbaugh said would “revolutionize” the NFL, was good enough to help the team get back to the Super Bowl.

Eleven weeks into the season, we can safely say Harbaugh’s hype was warranted. The Jackson-led offense, which is in fact unlike anything we’ve seen in the NFL, ranks third in offensive DVOA and, along with its quarterback, seems to be getting better every week. The Texans were the latest in Jackson’s destruction tour of the NFL. The MVP candidate tossed four touchdowns, averaged 9.3 yards per attempt and added another 87 yards on the ground in a 41-7 romp over the Texans.

While those 41 points jump off the screen, don’t overlook the seven spot. That was no fluke. Baltimore’s defense was just as impressive as its offense, and that’s been the case for the last month or so. In fact, since the trade for Marcus Peters before Week 7, the Ravens have had the NFL’s best defense, per Football Outsiders’ DVOA.

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Tony Jefferson often seemed as a weak link in our defense, but I also got the impression after watching the plays from a different angle, that he more than not was trying to make up for other players coverage mistakes.

With regard to taking angles, tackling and making plays in general he was up and down.

If it is fair or not, our defense improve by a lot once Chuck Clark took over, but this coincided with a major overhaul on defense, so I think it is difficult to say how much responsibility Tony Jefferson had in our defense when it played bad.

What I think we can conclude though, is that we don't need Jefferson and his contract to play great defense, thus the money can be used elsewhere and I think he is an obvious trade option either prior to the draft or in TC if he can get back to full health by then.

 

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3 hours ago, Danand said:

Tony Jefferson often seemed as a weak link in our defense, but I also got the impression after watching the plays from a different angle, that he more than not was trying to make up for other players coverage mistakes.

With regard to taking angles, tackling and making plays in general he was up and down.

If it is fair or not, our defense improve by a lot once Chuck Clark took over, but this coincided with a major overhaul on defense, so I think it is difficult to say how much responsibility Tony Jefferson had in our defense when it played bad.

What I think we can conclude though, is that we don't need Jefferson and his contract to play great defense, thus the money can be used elsewhere and I think he is an obvious trade option either prior to the draft or in TC if he can get back to full health by then.

 

Disagree. I think it’s completely fair. I get what you’re saying about us also bringing in Bynes/Fort and also Peters to the defense. But the sample size is bigger than just this season.

Lets break it down. This season alone we switched to Bynes/Fort at ILB and that was a definite improvement in the middle of the defense in stopping the run, however even with that this secondary allowed Mason Rudolph to have his second best passer rating all season long. Had he not been knocked out of the game, that might’ve been a LONGGG game.

 The major culprits of abuse were always Averrett and Jefferson. What’s more the communication seemingly wasn’t as smooth. Jefferson was still running all around and not in position sometimes. His method of communicating seemed to be verbal and inefficient.

Lets also look back to the game against the Chiefs last year when Chuck Clark came into the game to play. He was not a weak link. In fact when Mahomes TRIED to pick on him in coverage, Clark smartly baits him into a pick. The secondary was letdown by OTHER players, but not Clark.

So now lets fast forward to now. Chuck Clark has use nonverbal methods of communication throughout the defense to translate changes. Guys are throwing up X signs and wiggling their legs and such. Sure adding Peters who Humphrey believes to be the smartest corner he’s ever been around plays a major part in the transformation of the defense, but in the small stints last year the defense had less holes in it and now again Clark has consistently locked down his coverages.

Opposing defenses could usually scheme a RB/TE on Jefferson and toss a prayer if they’re blitzed. Now that is shutdown by what Clark brings to the secondary as a coverage option as well as in zone coverage.

The rest of the defense is better, so you’re right it’s not ALL Clark, but we have enough evidence alone just from Clark the communicator and coverage man to know that Jefferson’s play was indeed bad.

Have we seen as many coverage busts from Marlon now that Jefferson is gone? Have we seen Clark getting burnt in man coverage? Have we seen Clark getting burnt in zone? We have not seen these things. So it’s not just a transformational change that somehow removes TJ from major fault. He was a huge part of the problem that made this defense the 28th worst unit before he went down. He was one of the worst rated safeties in the game for a reason.

Dude was great in the community but not a very good fit on this football team as a player. I’m sure he might make for a great positional coach in the future.

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If I haven't done so already (can't remember my previous post this season about crow eating, maybe it was Ronnie Stanley?), I'd like to take this moment to completely admit to being wrong about Wink as a DC. Y'all remember how adamant I was he was going to fail because of how bad he was in Denver for that one year. Yikes was I wrong.

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It seems like Jefferson could never fit in this scheme here in Baltimore. Chuck Clark certainly has outperformed him this year. It's a shame b/c he was so good in Arizona. Maybe he was never too much of a cerebral player, and after injuries sapped some athleticism, he couldn't transition his game. It's hard to pinpoint why he dropped off. 

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13 hours ago, Danand said:

What I think we can conclude though, is that we don't need Jefferson and his contract to play great defense, thus the money can be used elsewhere and I think he is an obvious trade option either prior to the draft or in TC if he can get back to full health by then.

 

An underperforming veteran coming off an injury will not likely not find a trade partner, I think he will be released. 

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5 hours ago, DreamKid said:

 

Honestly I forgot to mention this in my response above, but not only is the communication so much better, but our defense is doing a lot better in disguising our coverages and then switching after the snap. It’s made a world of difference. This was a skillset that Weddle really allowed within the defense and there’s no coincidence that when baby Weddle, Clark gets the start, we see a lot more disguised coverages.

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