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The truth is out about the Ravens and their elite defense: They’re not entirely truthful in their dealings with opposing quarterbacks.
“It’s all about trying to make things look different to the quarterback,” Ravens pass game coordinator and secondary coach Chris Hewitt said last month, “and try to lie to the quarterback as much as possible.”
The truth, as San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy learned, can hurt. After forcing the recent NFL Most Valuable Player front-runner into the worst game of his career in a blowout win Monday night, the Ravens enter Sunday’s showdown against the AFC East-leading Miami Dolphins atop the league in sacks, takeaways and pass defense efficiency, according to FTN.
Even as stars have emerged at every level of coordinator Mike Macdonald’s defense, deception remains its calling card. What a quarterback sees is rarely what he gets.
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“I think the No. 1 thing that Baltimore does so well is that they’re going to change the picture post-snap every single play,” ESPN analyst Matt Bowen said in an interview Tuesday. “They’re going to make the quarterback work. It doesn’t matter if it’s a top-level quarterback or a lower-tier backup starting. They’re going to come after you and they’re going to change the picture post-snap and make you work through your drop to understand what they’re doing.
“And that’s how they create confusion. That’s how they create big plays. That’s how they create free runners through second- and third-level blitzers to get home and hit the quarterback. You saw it last night versus Brock Purdy. You’ve seen it consistently throughout the season. And what they’ve done, in my opinion, is, they’ve taken three levels of talent in Baltimore — and three levels of really versatile talent — and they cater to that talent.”
Here’s a look at how each position group makes the Ravens’ pass defense tough to decipher.
Defensive linemen
What they usually do: With great size comes limited versatility. Even athletic linemen like Justin Madubuike are best suited to work in a phone booth, not in space. On early downs, the Ravens’ interior typically plays it straight, lining up to stop the run or rush the passer.
How they lie: Entering 2023, Michael Pierce had never played more than five coverage snaps in a season, according to Pro Football Focus. He has 17 this year, second most in the NFL among interior linemen. Madubuike is tied for fourth with a career-high 13. Broderick Washington had two coverage snaps over his first three seasons in Baltimore. He has five this year. Travis Jones had one coverage snap as a rookie. He has six this year.
Their pass defense assignments typically aren’t complex. The Ravens typically ask their linemen to engage a blocker long enough to influence a line’s pass protection, then quickly drop into a shallow zone as a second-level defender comes after the quarterback, oftentimes unblocked. A 350-pound lineman’s presence can be enough to deter quarterbacks from throwing “hot” to receivers over the middle.
Outside linebackers
What they usually do: Like their counterparts along the line of scrimmage, Ravens outside linebackers are fairly consistent in their pre-snap alignments and post-snap responsibilities. They usually line up over an offensive tackle or tight end, and they rarely drop into coverage. Kyle Van Noy leads the group with 30 coverage snaps, which ranks only 38th in the NFL among outside linebackers.
How they lie: On obvious passing downs, the Ravens will sometimes line up an outside linebacker over a guard or center, hunting favorable matchups inside and leaving a tackle to deal with a defensive lineman.
They’ll also drop an outside linebacker into coverage from one side of the defense as they send another second-level defender from the other side in hopes of overloading the offensive line.
Inside linebackers
What they usually do: Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen are among Macdonald’s favorite chess pieces. Most of the time, they line up a few yards off the ball, behind the defensive line, ready to patrol the middle of the field. But on obvious passing downs, they’ll go wherever they’re needed: over the center or a guard, in the slot, even out wide.
How they lie: Smith and Queen are the key cogs in the the Ravens’ simulated-pressure packages, where the threat of a blitz — often with the two linebackers lined up over the middle of the offensive line before the snap — forces offenses to adjust their protection rules and keep blockers in, only for the Ravens to send just four pass rushers after the quarterback.
Queen’s work on “pick stunts,” whereby he helps free an interior rusher by slamming into his blocker, has also added a new path to chaos in the pocket. The blocker responsible for picking up Queen’s blitzes often can’t react quickly enough to account for the pick and Queen, who sometimes ends up bouncing to the quarterback himself.
Slot defenders
What they usually do: The Ravens’ primary nickel backs, safety Kyle Hamilton and cornerback Arthur Maulet, typically line up inside over slot receivers or in the box against more condensed looks. From there, they’re responsible for fitting the run, executing in coverage and sometimes blitzing.
How they lie: Maulet has tied a career high with his two sacks because of how the Ravens use slot defenders in their simulated pressures. Before the snap, he’ll line up over a receiver, signaling to the offense that he’s in coverage, then bolt for the pocket as soon as the quarterback drops back. If the opponent’s pass protection doesn’t account for the possibility of a rush, Maulet can get a free path to the quarterback.
Hamilton’s size and skill set have made his roles even more bespoke. He’ll line up in the slot, only to relocate after the snap and end up as the vertical seam dropper in a “Tampa 2″ zone, carrying receivers up the middle of the field as if he’s an inside linebacker.
Against the Cincinnati Bengals and other offenses with potent passing attacks, the Ravens have also used Hamilton to help bracket outside receivers, a role that usually goes to deep-lying safeties, not safeties in the slot.
Outside cornerbacks
What they usually do: As with defensive linemen, there’s not a lot of variance in how cornerbacks line up. They go wherever there are receivers to cover. The most interesting variable in Baltimore is oftentimes who’s lining up over which target.
How they lie: Quarterbacks rely on pre-snap clues to help their post-snap processing. If a cornerback follows a wide receiver in motion from one side of the field to the other, the defense is probably in man-to-man. If he’s not followed, it’s probably in zone. If the outside cornerbacks are playing off-coverage, and the safeties are in a two-deep look, the defense is probably dropping back to a “Cover 4″ shell.
But appearances can be deceiving. On the 49ers’ second drop-back Monday, the Ravens responded to pre-snap motion as if they were in zone coverage. But at the snap, their coverage played out in man-to-man. Purdy hesitated slightly as he reached the end of his drop and couldn’t connect with fullback Kyle Juszczyk over the middle of the field.
The Ravens can also go the other way, changing from a man-to-man look to a zone coverage.
Or they can shape-shift from one zone to another, in this case feigning a “Cover 3″ or “Cover 4″ look and transitioning into a more aggressive “Cover 2″ call.
Or they’ll just blitz both outside cornerbacks and take their chances with the fallout. It worked out well enough Monday.
Deep safeties
What they usually do: Quarterbacks can tell a lot about a pass defense from the pre-snap positioning of the opposing safeties. If they’re in a two-high shell, the defense is likely sacrificing coverage in the shallower parts of the field for better security against deep shots. If the safeties are in a one-high shell, the defense could be blitzing, lining up in man-to-man or playing Cover 3.
How they lie: The Ravens like to change the picture on quarterbacks. A lot.
According to PFF, their use of disguised coverages is among the NFL’s highest rates. Entering Week 16, they’d shifted from a one-high shell — Cover 1 and Cover 3 — to a two-high shell — Cover 2, Cover 4 and Cover 6 — on 27.5% of their plays.
Disguised coverages can be risky, but the rewards — throwing off a quarterback’s timing just long enough to disrupt his progression or feel the heat of the pass rush — are usually worthwhile.
“You don’t know where these guys are going to be,” Bowen said. “That’s why I brought up changing the picture, making you work. You don’t have much time to think in the National Football League.”
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Jonas Shaffer is a Ravens beat writer for The Baltimore Banner. He previously covered the Ravens for The Baltimore Sun. Shaffer graduated from the University of Maryland and grew up in Silver Spring.
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