The Baltimore Ravens have put together a 5-2 record through seven weeks of the 2021 season. Right now they are in the middle of their bye week, which means that they have an opportunity to learn about themselves and get better so that they can put together a good string of football in the second half of the season
One of the key issues for Baltimore has been their tackling. The team has missed countless tackles, giving up extra yards on plays that should only go for short gains. Ravens pass game coordinator/secondary coach Chris Hewitt went into detail about how good tackling happens, and what Baltimore can do to improve.
“Tackling really starts with a mindset, and it’s a ‘want to,’ and we’ve just got to get that put across to our players. We’ve just got to have that mentality all the time. And to answer your question, there are a lot of times where … There are all kinds of issues where it’s a guy not pointing [towards] the ball, or a guy not containing the ball, a guy thinking that he’s tackling by himself. You never want a guy to go out there and think that he’s got to make the tackle by himself. There are 11 guys out there, and we’ve just got to play with our leverage and play with the great effort that we have always had. But what we’re doing is … There are just a bunch of things that happen on each individual play. When every play is graded individually, it’s all different. So, that’s just something that we’ve just got to get better [at]. We’ll keep on coaching it, and our players are going to continue to keep on getting better, and again, it’s a mindset.”
While the Ravens have certainly been one of the worst tackling teams in the NFL through seven weeks, they have the talent to improve that area of their game. Tackling should be a major point of emphasis for the team during their bye week, and hopefully during the second half of the season the defense will make the necessary changes to wrap up ball carriers and bring them to the ground at a much higher rate.