Mapping a out a blueprint to success in this AFC showdown.
The Baltimore Ravens will be back at home in Week 4 for a primetime AFC matchup with the undefeated Buffalo Bills on Sunday Night Football. After notching their first victory this past week, they will be looking to make a statement under the light of a national stage. A win would not only improve their record to .500 with at 2-2, it’d be further proof that they’re on the right track and still a force to be reckoned with in the AFC and NFL at large.
Here are five keys integral to the Ravens’ coming out on top.
Rinse and repeat with rushing attack
One of the best ways to limit the most efficient offense in the league through three games is to keep it off the field which the Ravens can do by keeping theirs on with a heavy dose of Derrick Henry and the ground game. Against the Dallas Cowboys last week, the team ran its way to the first win of the season by unleashing the four-time Pro Bowl freight train and letting him run all over the defense, accounting for 151 of the Ravens’ 274 rushing yards—both of which were season highs. Their punishing rushing attack allowed them to dominate time of possession, march the ball up and down the field, set up the play-action passing game and score three of their four touchdowns.
Live in heavy personnel
A big reason the Ravens were able to have so much success on running the ball last week was not just because they were going against a poor run defense but because they deployed their bigger formations at a high rate. Four-time Pro Bowl fullback Patrick Ricard was on the field for more than half of the team’s total offensive snaps for the first time this season and the tight ends were instrumental for spring both Henry and quarterback Lamar Jackson for longer gains. Against a Bills defense that has yet to play a snap of their base defense and would rather live and die in nickel and dime sub-packages, matching their light bodies with bigger bodies early and often could give the Ravens a significant advantage in this game.
Expose and attack middle of the field
An area of the field where the Bills’ defense could be taken advantage of through the air is between the hashes down the spine where they will be without starting linebacker Terrel Bernard and stud nickel cornerback Taron Johnson and are starting a new pair of safeties this year who have yet to be tested. After a slow start to the season as a pass catcher, this could be the week Ravens three-time Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews finally has a big game and third-year pro Isaiah Likely could be primed for his most productive outing since his incredible performance in the season opener. If the Ravens are successful at establishing the run, both Andrews and Likely could be poised to be popular targets for Jackson when offensive coordinator Todd Monken dials up play action.
Change post-snap picture for Josh Allen
The Bills’ star signal-caller is off to the hottest start of any quarterback in the NFL and has thrown seven touchdowns with no interceptions. He has completed 75% percent of his passes and leads the league in average yards per attempt (10.75), passer rating (133.7) and QBR (92.5). If Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr doesn’t want his unit to be the latest to get carved up by Allen’s precision passing especially if the Bills fall behind and have to take to the air to play catchup, he will need to take a page out his predecessor Mike Macdonald’s playbook.
Using a heavy amount of disguised and deceptive coverages that appear one way pre-snap and present something totally different after it is snapped might be the key to Allen not having as efficient of a passing outing as he has been accustomed to having through three games. Doing so would not only give the pass rush more time to get home by taking away reads he thought were initially open but also potentially result in his first interception of the season which could mean stealing a possession in a game where it will be vital to coming out on top for the home team.
Clamp down in the red zone on defense
An area of the field where Allen has been especially deadly for opposing defenses to open the year has been once his offense gets inside the 20-yard line. As a passer, he is 8-of-13 with as many touchdowns (five) as he has incompletions and he has rushed for a pair of scores from inside that portion of the field as well, bringing his total to seven.
As a team, the Bills’ offense has the second-highest touchdown conversion percentage in the red zone at 75% after reaching paydirt on 10 of their 13 attempts. If the Ravens come in with the bend but don’t break mindset or gameplan, playing more disciplined and suffocating once the field of play is condensed will be paramount. If the Buffalo makes it inside the 10-yard-line, the 6-foot-5 and 237-pound quarterback’s legs will be a huge threat. Having an athletic spy on him down on those plays would make a lot of sense and the top candidates could be either First Team All Pro defensive back Kyle Hamilton (6-foot-4 and 224-pounds) or second-year starting linebacker Trenton Simpson (6-foot-2 and 235 pounds).