The Baltimore Ravens sit atop the AFC as the No. 1 seed currently, thanks to their 10-2 record. That makes them the team everyone wants to beat as fellow conference teams look to pick up a statement win and boost themselves up into the playoffs. The Buffalo Bills are no different in Week 14 as they look to prove themselves legitimate contenders this season.
If the Ravens are going to beat the Bills, they’ll need to keep an eye on a few things. Luckily, with one of the best analytics teams in the NFL, Baltimore likely already knows what they need to do and where they should attack. But for the rest of us without a group of highly educated stat geeks on the payroll, here are a few key stats for the Ravens to pay attention to this week.
Don’t blitz Josh Allen
According to Inside Edge, Allen has the ninth-best passer rating (97.4) when being blitzed since Week 10. Meanwhile, the Ravens have blitzed the most in the NFL over that same time.
It’s clearly worked for Baltimore as they’ve been able to harass a number of talented quarterbacks into mistakes. They’ve notched 13 sacks over the last four weeks thanks to their unique and aggressive blitzes but this appears to be the week to back off a bit.
With a fully stacked secondary and stout interior run defense, Baltimore should be able to force Allen to hold on to the football and let his relative inexperience play against him. Allen feeling the time in his head could see him throw the ball into tight coverage and make big mistakes.