Category: Ravens

Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo has been his team’s MVP all season long

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has been the Chiefs’ MVP all season long, and he’s the main reason they’re going back to the Super Bowl.,

The Kansas City Chiefs are going to their fourth Super Bowl in the last five seasons, with the opportunity to become the first team to win two straight Super Bowls since the 2002-2003 New England Patriots.

And the primary reason they’re in this position after their 17-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game is the efforts of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

That’s not been the case throughout most of the Chiefs’ dynasty — it’s generally been all about Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes on the offensive side of the ball — but in a season where their offense let them down over and over in the regular season, it was Spags’ defense that held the line and was the spine.

It didn’t help in this game that Lamar Jackson was sailing deep balls all over the place, and offensive coordinator Todd Monken abandoned the run far too early, but this Chiefs defense ranked seventh in DVOA in the regular season, and played to that level throughout.

“It was an unselfish job, man,” defensive lineman Chris Jones told James Palmer of the NFL Network right after the game. “The front four containing Lamar, the back end playing physically, not allowing big plays. We made them take the long, hard road, and we got a victory out of it.”

Well, the Ravens didn’t take the long, hard road — they had the ball for just 22:30 of the game clock, and only three of their 11 drives had more than six plays. The drive that might have tied the game ended with Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed punching the ball out of the hands of Ravens receiver Zay Flowers at the Kansas City one-yard line.

It was just that sort of day for the AFC’s one-seed.

Zay Flowers and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Jackson completed 20 of 37 passes for 272 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a passer rating of 75.5. He had a couple of big throws, but Spags’ defense never let Baltimore truly capitalize.

“It’s going to take all 11 of us,” defensive lineman Mike Danna said in the week leading up to the game. “We have to pursue relentlessly to get him down. He’s an excellent athlete, excellent quarterback. We’ve got to do our jobs. We have to do our one-eleventh. Getting him down is not easy. Like I said, it’s going to take all 11 of us to pursue to the ball, contain him, and keep him in the pocket.”

Whether he’s blitzed with stunning alacrity, or set his players up in coverage concepts with intelligent disguise and late movement, Steve Spagnuolo has been the Kansas City Chiefs’ MVP all season long.

And he’s the main reason they’re going back to the Super Bowl.

Lamar Jackson’s worst throw of the season came at the worst possible time

Lamar Jackson picked the worst possible time for his worst throw of the 2023 NFL season.

Lamar Jackson may be the prohibitive favorite to win his second NFL Most Valuable Player award, but Jackson is also lucky those are voted before the postseason. Because by no standard did Jackson avoid having his worst possible game at the worst possible time in the AFC Championship contest against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Jackson had sailed pass after pass over the heads of his receivers, and he certainly wasn’t helped by receiver Zay Flowers’ fumble at the Kansas City goal line at the start of the fourth quarter, but the worst throw Jackson made all season was entirely on him, and it likely sealed the Chiefs’ return trip to the Super Bowl.

Bush had just come in for injured safety Mike Edwards, and Jackson threw this ball into triple coverage in the end zone. He did this despite the fact that he had receiver Nelson Agholor open underneath, perhaps for a first down on second-and-10. Regardless, you can’t make that throw to tight end Isaiah Likely with that much trouble downfield.

Was there contact on the play by the Chiefs’ defenders? Absolutely, and pass interference absolutely could have been called. But you can never expect referees to be consistent at any time, as we have discussed ad nauseam all season long.

Zay Flowers and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Have you ever had one of those days? Ravens receiver Zay Flowers had about four of them on one Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad drive.

Baltimore Ravens rookie receiver Zay Flowers had quite the little up-and-down series of events in the third and fourth quarters of his team’s AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs. The first-round pick has played excellently through most of the season, and with 49 seconds left in the third quarter, he smoked Kansas City’s ordinarily outstanding defense for this 54-yard catch.

That would have put the Ravens in prime position to get closer than the 17-7 deficit they had, but Flowers’ youthful exuberance got the best of him, and he was flagged for a rather obvious taunting penalty.

That took the ball from the Kansas City 10-yard line to the Kansas City 25-yard line. Now, the Ravens were fighting for a field goal as much as a touchdown.

And THEN… at the start of the fourth quarter… Flowers had a shot at his second receiving touchdown of the game. Instead, Flowers fumbled the all just short of the end zone, encouraged by Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed.

But wait — there’s more! A frustrated Flowers then went to the Ravens’ bench, hit a bench with his hand in frustration, and injured that hand.

You ever just have one of those days? Flowers had himself a truly Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day… in the space of just a few minutes.

Ravens had better start running the ball if they want to advance to the Super Bowl

The Ravens’ surprising decision to go away from their run game has allowed an iffy Chiefs run defense to thrive.

With a 17-7 deficit at the end of the first half in their AFC Championship matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, the one-seed Baltimore Ravens had better make a couple of corrections in the second half. Covering Travis Kelce would be a great idea; Kelce had nine catches on nine targets for 96 yards and a touchdown in the first half. But it’s Baltimore’s reluctance to run the ball on a consistent basis that really makes no sense.

In the first half, the Ravens ran just nine times for 46 yards, and 27 yards came from quarterback Lamar Jackson on four carries. Running back GUs Edwards had just one carry… for 15 yards. This makes little sense. Coming into this game, the Ravens ranked first in rushing yards per game (157) and rushing yards per attempt (5.9), while the Chiefs came into this one ranked 17th in rushing yards allowed per game (117), and 24th in rushing yards per attempt allowed (5.0). .

With all of Steve Spagnuolo’s creative blitzes, and the extent to which the Chiefs play dime defense behind them, this is a weakness that Baltimore offensive coordinator Todd Monken must exploit if the Ravens are to advance to Super Bowl LVIII.

Lamar Jackson completes 13-yard pass to himself to extend Ravens drive

Lamar Jackson caught his own pass for a 13-yard gain in the AFC Championship game. Any quarterback can do that, right?

Lamar Jackson was already probably on his way to his second NFL Most Valuable Player award this season, but if anyone still questioned Jackson’s value, this ridiculous play in the AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs confirmed it.

After all, when you’re Lamar, do you even need receivers? Not with 5:38 left in the first half. The Chiefs were up 14-7, and Jackson tried to get the ball off. But Chiefs safety Justin Reid deflected the pass to the flat. Generally speaking, that’s an interception waiting to happen.

Generally speaking, though, most quarterbacks aren’t Lamar Jackson.

Lamar Jackson miraculous on TD pass to Zay Flowers

The Ravens have evened the score with the Chiefs

Lamar Jackson was at his elusive best in the first quarter of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.

The likely NFL MVP ran for 21 yards on a fourth-down conversion and then somehow managed to slip out of a sack before finding Zay Flowers for a 30-yard TD.

Travis Kelce throws Justin Tucker’s football, helmet out of the way as Chiefs warm up

Travis Kelce thought that Ravens kicker Justin Tucker was in Patrick Mahomes’ way in pre-game warmups, so Kelce did a little redecorating.

There’s a legendary story about former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan telling one of his quarterbacks to throw a ball in warmups at former Raiders owner Al Davis when Davis wouldn’t leave the Broncos’ side of the field. Shanahan and Davis had a falling out when Shanahan was Davis’ head coach in 1988 and 1989, and Shanahan therefore felt that he was well within his rights to make Davis dodge out of the way — after which, word is, Davis gave Shanahan the old one-finger salute.

What happened on the field at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium before the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens face off in the AFC Championship game, but it was a bit chippy. As Patrick Mahomes started to warm up, Ravens kicker Justin Tucker was a bit in the way. So, Travis Kelce — Mahomes’ bestest buddy — took Tucker’s football and helmet, and threw them out of the way so that Mahomes had more clearance to get his reps in.

From James Palmer of the NFL Network:

We’re unsure if this will have any real-time ramifications in the actual game, but we’re all in favor of a little edge going into such an important contest.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing the NFL’s conference championship games

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get you ready for Ravens-Chiefs, and 49ers-Lions. It’s conference championship time!

And then, there were four! It’s time for the conference championship round of the NFL playoffs, deciding which teams will play in Super Bowl LVIII. Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, are here to get you ready for the most interesting matchups.

Kansas City Chiefs at Baltimore Ravens

  • How will Lamar Jackson deal with Steve Spagnuolo’s unconventional blitzes?
  • Can Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco take over this game, and will “pin/pull” continue to be a thing?
  • Will Mike Macdonald’s Ravens defense cause Patrick Mahomes to hesitate in his process with all those coverage disguises?
  • How will Baltimore counter the Chiefs’ effective use of heavy personnel in the run and pass games?

Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers

  • Jared Goff has become much more than just a game manager, so how will Steve Wilks’ 49ers defense deal with that?
  • Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has done a brilliant job coaching up a cornerback-light roster. But will that turn into a pumpkin against Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers offense?
  • Is Brock Purdy’s bad game against the Packers in the divisional round indicative of vulnerabilities that can be exploited here?
  •  Will the Lions’ rookies on both sides of the ball be the ultimate difference in this game?

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” previewing both conference championship games in detail, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

How the Ravens, Chiefs, Lions, and 49ers get big plays out of heavy personnel

The Ravens, Chiefs, Lions, and 49ers all get more explosive plays out of heavy personnel than you might think, and here’s how they do it.

We tend to think of the modern NFL passing game as heavily dependent on multi-receiver sets, spread out to foil opposing defenses. But more and more, modern offensive coordinators are finding ways to use heavier personnel and some old-school ideas to score points.

All four of the remaining teams in the playoff picture — the Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, and San Francisco 49ers — have patented ways to break defenses in half with more tight ends, fullbacks, and extra offensive linemen than you might imagine.

You’ll see a lot of these concepts in Sunday’s conference championship games, and here they are. In case you’re not familiar with how numbers and personnel packages, here’s how that works.

  • 10 Personnel = 1 RB, 0 TE, 4 WRs
  • 11 Personnel = 1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WRs
  • 12 Personnel = 1 RB, 2 TEs, 2 WRs
  • 13 Personnel = 1 RB, 3 TEs, 1 WR
  • 21 Personnel = 2 RBs, 1 TE, 2 WRs
  • 22 Personnel = 2 RBs, 2 TEs, 1 WR

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys talked a lot about how all four teams will use their own ideas to set themselves up for possible Super Bowl berths.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” previewing both conference championship games in detail, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Chiefs’ heavy personnel (and Isiah Pacheco) could put a dent in Ravens’ great defense

The Chiefs run more heavy personnel than any other NFL team, and it’s made running back Isiah Pacheco a fulcrum of Andy Reid’s offense.

You may think of the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense as a spread-’em-out vertical thing, but as expansive as it can be when it’s working well, the Chiefs do not cede to “spread personnel” nearly as much as you’d think. Nobody is trying to be Kliff Kingsbury, running four times as formations with four and five receivers as any other team.

Quite the opposite, in fast.

Over the last two seasons, the Chiefs have led the league in passes out of 13 personnel — one running back, three tight ends, and one running back — and they did so last season, as well. This season, Patrick Mahomes has completed 28 of 43 passes out of a league-high 49 dropbacks in 13 personnel for 380 yards, 118 air yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 89.3. Middle of the pack, but that’s where Kansas City’s passing game has been all season. The volume is the point here.

It matters even more in a run game that has become a fulcrum of Kansas City’s offense to a large degree. Second-year back Isiah Pacheco is the man here, and he’s also benefited from 13 personnel. Pacheco has run a league-high 46 times out of 13 personnel for 199 yards, 116 yards after contact, and a touchdown. Pacheco is capable of making gains out of any personnel package with his slashing, violent style, but when the Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens face off this Sunday in the AFC Championship game, the Ravens will know that their opponents’ offense goes up to 13 more than any in the NFL.

Pacheco ran 15 times for 97 yards in Kansas City’s 27-24 divisional round win over the Buffalo Bills. Seven of those runs were in 13 personnel, and Pacheco gained 60 of those yards on those seven plays.

His 29-yard run with 12:53 left in the game was a pin/pull concept with tight ends Blake Bell and Noah Gray leaving the formation to block outside, and left tackle Donovan Smith as well. Left guard Nick Allegretti pinned defensive tackle Ed Oliver. Pacheco had a clean gap upfield in outside zone, and Pacheco made safety Micah Hyde miss in space with a nasty outside move. 

“I thought we did okay during the year with opportunities there, but I would tell you that [Offensive Line Coach] Andy Heck does a heck of a job – no pun intended – but he does a heck of a job with designing the runs and the guys execute them,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said this week. “Obviously, Pacheco back healthy, you’ve got a nice rotation in there that you can go to and the guys – as well as Pacheco’s doing – Clyde [Edwards-Helaire] when he has an opportunity jumps in and does a nice job also. The offensive line takes a lot of pride in doing what they do, and they know that it starts with them, and I think they’ve been very accurate with their blocking assignments.”

Pacheco is dealing with a toe injury this week, which will make those personnel concepts and blocking schemes even more important. The Ravens have faced runs out of 13 personnel just 15 times this season, and eight of those plays came at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the regular-season finale. Both Najre Harris and Jaylen Warren (whose caterwauling style more closely matches Pacheco’s) were able to grab decent gains in Pittsburgh 17-10 win. This 15-yard gain by Harris with 13:13 left in the third quarter shows how, as great as Baltimore’s defense is, there’s something to be said about getting nasty and going big-on-big in the run game.

“Anytime people are changing personnels on you, you have to make the decision on how we’re going to match it with the people that we’re going to put on the field,” Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald said of the Chiefs’ heavy personnel packages. “Without giving you the answer of how we’re going to do it, those are the decisions you have to make, and then where are the stresses of the calls you’re going to have to make. A lot of times, it’s going to morph and evolve over the course of the game. After you make a decision, you see how they make their decision you’re playing off one another as the game starts to unfold. We have an initial plan on how we’re going to play it, and obviously it’ll evolve as the game starts to declare itself.” 

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get further into how the Chiefs can set the Ravens on edge with these heavy personnel runs.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” previewing both conference championship games in detail, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.