Giants Country

New York Giants Week 6: First Look at Baltimore Ravens' Defense

Let's get to know what the Giants can expect from the Ravens defense.

Brandon Olsen

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We can all agree that the New York Giants being 4-1 at this point in the season was not something we expected. However, the Giants continue to find ways to get it done, week in and week out.

In week six, the Giants take on the leaders in the AFC North, the Baltimore Ravens. What challenges will this Ravens defense present to the Giants offense come Sunday?

Personnel

For years now, Calais Campbell has been one of the most overlooked defensive linemen in the NFL -- ironic, considering he’s 6-foot-8 and 300 pounds. Campbell is the focal point of this Ravens front, lining up all across the defensive line and the rare off-ball linebacker spot.

Aside from just where he’s lining up, Campbell is still a well-rounded threat at 36 years old. Campbell has had a bit of a resurgence as a pass-rusher, on pace for 48 pressures this season, which would be his highest since 2019, his last season in Jacksonville. While Campbell isn’t the force he used to be against the run, he’s still a sound run stuffer.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of 2021 for the Ravens was the immediate impact made by Odafe Oweh, who was thought of as a project trying to make the most of his elite athleticism. Oweh would finish 2021 with 49 pressures and five sacks. Through the first five games of the 2022 season, Oweh is on pace to improve upon that pressure total so far, on pace for 58 pressures.

As a run defender, Oweh leaves a lot to be desired. Whether it’s a lack of interest or functional strength, Oweh consistently finds himself out of position to make a play against the run.

It may have taken some time, but interior defensive lineman Justin Madubuike is coming into his own with a strong start to the 2022 season. Through 2020 and 2021 combined, Madubuike had 23 pressures - he’s on pace for 41 in 2022.

It isn’t always pretty, but Madubuike’s emergence is more appreciated now than ever following Michael Pierce being placed on injured reserve.

The most aggressive piece of the Ravens defense is Patrick Queen, the 23-year-old third-year linebacker from LSU. Queen is an athlete that’s still learning how to effectively and efficiently play linebacker in the NFL - he’s been improving, but there’s still plenty of room to grow.

Queen has been given unique responsibilities in this Ravens' defense for 2022. Against the pass, most players have been used almost exclusively in coverage or as pass-rushers, but Queen is the main player who’s been asked to contribute as both a pass-rusher and cover man.

Coverage has been a struggle for Queen, who’s allowed a passer rating of 89.1 in 2022 and a completion percentage of 79.4%. In his defense, a lot of that has been less about him getting beat in coverage and more about his lack of ability to finish the play after allowing the catch.

Marlon Humphrey is the most talented player on the back end of the Ravens' defense. Humphrey is someone who has found early success in this new-look Ravens defense that potentially puts him in more positions to make plays. (But more on that later)

Humphrey has two interceptions through five games this season; his career-high is three in a season, which he hasn’t done since 2019. Like Campbell, Humphrey is moved throughout his position group, lining up as a wide corner, nickel defender, and various positions as a box defender.

Humphrey is also currently allowing the lowest passer rating of his career at 52.2; his previous best was 53.5.

On the sideline opposite Humphrey is Marcus Peters in his third season as a Raven - coming off of a torn ACL in 2021, Sunday will be his fifth game back. Peters is about as big of a boom-or-bust cornerback as there is, known for his aggressive approach to making a play on the ball, which often leads to big plays for opposing offenses.

The 2022 season has been no different for Peters and his boom-or-bust play. In his first game against the Miami Dolphins, he allowed a perfect 158.3 passer rating before allowing a 14.6 rating the next week in a dominant performance in New England.

At safety, the duo of Chuck Clark and Kyle Hamilton are tasked with over-the-top responsibilities following Marcus Williams, the Ravens' big free agent signing, being placed on injured reserve. Clark has been the iron man of this Ravens' defense for three seasons now, playing over 1,000 snaps in 2020 and 2021 while being on pace for a career-high in 2022.

Clark is a chess piece that, unfortunately, might be the player most impacted by the injury to Marcus Williams. Having Williams on the back end gave the Ravens an elite center fielder overtop, allowing Clark to work more as a box defender. Without Williams, Clark now has more responsibility as a deep safety, which he can play, but it isn’t his best spot.

Hamilton spent the majority of 2021 and the first four months of 2022 being (incorrectly, in my opinion) labeled a generational talent at safety. So far, this early in his career, Hamilton is yet to make the impact that many thought he would make on this Ravens' defense. The potential is there to be an elite safety, but through five games, Hamilton has allowed a perfect 158.3 passer rating and hasn’t made an impact as a run defender yet.

Scheme

This is not the Ravens' defense of old. Yes, Mike Macdonald was in Baltimore under Wink Martindale for years, but the philosophy has taken a different approach with Macdonald calling plays.

One thing that did carry over from Martindale to Macdonald was the use of different fronts, varying between three-down linemen or four. This isn’t a huge strategic advantage, but it does allow the Ravens to disguise pressures and get more creative up front.

Why do the Ravens need to be able to disguise pressures and be creative? Think back to the Titans game in Week 1. The Titans like to use simulated pressures as a creative way to rush the passer, and the Ravens, under Macdonald, like to do the same thing.

A favorite of mine--and the Ravens--is Creepers. "Creepers" allows a defense to rush four defenders, with at least one being a non-traditional rusher - an off-ball linebacker or defensive back. One of the traditional pass-rushers, usually Odafe Oweh in the Ravens defense, drops into coverage.

The point of this is to cause chaos for an offense in front while not sacrificing coverage on the back end. For example, the Ravens would still be rushing four with seven defenders in coverage, but Oweh is dropping into coverage. At the same time, Patrick Queen blitzes toward Andrew Thomas, and now the Giants have to account for four rushers coming from the left with an additional defender rotating into coverage.

Even without simulated pressures, the Ravens like to just work in good old-fashioned blitzes to generate pressure. Both off-ball linebackers for the Ravens are used as pass-rushers on about 15% of their pass-defense downs. Queen has been exponentially more effective as a rusher in 2022, primarily because of his elite burst and acceleration, allowing him to get through an occupied offensive line to shoot the gap.

It’s rare, but the Ravens also send the occasional defensive back as a pass-rusher. In this Ravens defense and many modern defenses, ten of the eleven defenders on the field are threats to be used as a pass-rusher. The only defender that isn’t a threat is the far corner since, by the time he could generate pressure, the quarterback could get the ball out easily, and it would take too long for other defenders to rotate over in time.

Another thing that Macdonald does, along with deploying a modern defense, is working a variety of coverages that allow the defense to have two safeties deep in coverage. The primary defenses for Macdonald and the Ravens are quarters (AKA cover four), cover two, and cover six.

One of the benefits of running quarters coverage is the ability to run it out of any front and attack almost any route concepts from the offense. Cornerbacks have multiple responsibilities based on what the receiver they line up against is doing. In contrast, safeties have the easy choice of playing over the top or helping as bracket defenders.

Cover two is one of the most common knowledge defenses around, which allows a defense to have five defenders underneath with two safeties over the top. This coverage puts more stress on the safeties to perform and makes it incredibly difficult for a quarterback to have options.

The lesser-known coverage of this bunch is cover six. Cover one has one defender deep, Cover 2 has two, Cover 3 has three, so cover six has how many? That’s right, three--kind of.

Cover 6 is a hybrid defense that mashes cover two with cover four. A defense plays cover two on one side while the other side is running cover four. Cover six is also commonly referred to as quarter, quarter, half, or ¼, ¼, ½, and it’s a favorite by many defenses in modern football. Still, it’s often confused for Cover 3 since there are potentially three deep defenders.

These coverages are all split-field coverages, and they allow a defense to show similar things pre-snap, and even after the snap, they can be difficult to tell apart.

What This Means for the Giants

Schematically and personnel-wise, it’s clear that this Ravens defense is on the way up, but they still have to do some things better…like execute. The Ravens have been gouged by the big play this season, and the Giants should make it a point to try to replicate that.

When the Patriots played the Ravens, Mac Jones struggled with decision-making, likely in part to the Ravens ability to disguise their coverages. However, Mac Jones also found success with the deep ball, as he went 6/9 on passes 20+ yards downfield for 173 yards.

For the Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa, he went 4/5 for 155 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception attacking that same range.

This isn’t to say that Daniel Jones and the Giants should throw the ball deep every play, but the opportunity is there for the taking if other quarterbacks with similar strength arms can complete these passes. For those wondering, Jones hasn’t completed a pass 20+ yards downfield since his touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard against the Titans.

Outside of throwing the ball, the Ravens have a unique weakness that the Giants could (and should) exploit - outside runs. In 2022, the Ravens allowed opposing offenses to consistently gash them by running outside the tackles.

So far this season, that’s been Saquon Barkley’s sweet spot. On rushes outside the tackles in 2022, Barkley has 38 carries for 258 yards - an average of 6.8 yards per carry. In any game, the focal point for the Giants should be to get Saquon the ball in ways that allow him to make plays, and that should especially be the case against the Ravens.

Final Thoughts

This is a matchup for the Giants against a Ravens defense that’s still trying to find its footing. Add into the mix that the Ravens fired Wink Martindale after the 2021 season, and there’s a bit more of a “personal” feel for this game.

The Giants' offense matches up fairly well with the Ravens. As long as Saquon and the Giants' rushing attack can continue to do what they’ve been doing this week, Giants fans should feel comfortable going into this game.

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Brandon Olsen
BRANDON OLSEN

Brandon Olsen is the founder of Whole Nine Sports, specializing in NFL Draft coverage, and is the host of the Locked On Gators Podcast. 

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