The Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns will kickoff their 2020 season at M&T Stadium in Baltimore on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET. The Browns have not been dealt the best of hands as they try to implement new schemes with new coaches, in a limited period of time. To top it all off they have to start by trying to stop one of the league’s best offenses.
When it comes to stopping the Ravens offense, it starts with slowing down the extremely talented and ridiculously quick Lamar Jackson. Teams have tried a number of schemes and methods, but not many have actually generated distinct results. So with the Browns ready to take the challenge first in 2020, let’s look at what has worked in some measure against Jackson and the Ravens.
1. Spy
The Tennessee Titans are one of the few success stories against the Ravens offense, beating them in M&T Bank Stadium during the divisional round of the 2019 playoffs. Titans HC Mike Vrabel put together a masterful game plan that threw anything and everything at Jackson. He still passed for 365 yards and rushed for 143, but they held him to one touchdown and most importantly defeated them 28-12.
The takeaway from what the Titans did against Jackson is the way that they deployed the quarterback spy. Along with Vrabel’s special concoction of different defensive looks, they often had a player assigned to mirror Jackson’s movements. Usually this is a linebacker or box safety, but the Titans switched their spy regularly throughout the game. They used a combination of linebackers, defensive backs and often defensive lineman who would drop into the middle of the field and spy Jackson as he darted in and out of the pocket.
2. Unicorn Defense
One of the other games that is bookmarked as a success in slowing down Jackson was the Ravens 2018 playoff loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. According to Next Gen Stats, the Chargers used seven defensive backs on 58 of 59 defensive snaps versus the Ravens in the Wild Card round. Across the NFL that season, there were only 353 total defensive plays with seven DBs on the field (50 by the Chargers). Los Angeles allowed 3.9 yards per play with seven defensive backs versus the Ravens.
Have the Chargers found the blueprint to stop Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense?
When opponents use 6+ DBs this season, Jackson & co. have struggled. When opponents use base and nickel packages, they have flourished. The Chargers have used 7 DBs every play today.#LACvsBAL pic.twitter.com/aLk5tp3dIF
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 6, 2019
“We needed some fast guys, right? We needed guys who could run sideline to sideline and still help in the passing game if they got fooled,” Chargers safety Rayshawn Jenkins told MMQB. Not saying our linebackers couldn’t do it, but let’s be honest, DBs are faster than linebackers.”
Strangely enough, teams have rarely been willing to go to the extremes of playing with seven defensive backs on the field against the Ravens, despite the Chargers’ success.
3. Make him throw outside the Numbers
Jackson has thoroughly proved his doubters wrong with his throwing ability. It was on full display last year as he won the NFL’s MVP award. Still, he has areas where he can improve and if we know anything about him, he spent his offseason doing just that.
It is worth noting though that teams have had more success against Jackson when forcing him to throw to the outside, specifically outside the numbers on the field. A good deal of the Ravens pass game action is designed to get players open in the middle of the field.
The Titans did a good job of taking some of this away and forcing Jackson to throw to the sidelines. Until he proves that he can make those throws on a consistent basis, defenses should be trying to take the middle of the field away from him.