The Baltimore Ravens had to fight for a 31-24 win over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 8. The victory moved them to 6-2 overall on the season, and kept them on top of the AFC North ahead of all of their division rivals.
After the game, head coach John Harbaugh was asked about what he saw from the Arizona defense that could have given his offense troubles throughout the game. He talked about how the Cardinals were trying to be physical by using “cage rushes”, and mentioned that different teams play their offense in different ways.
“You have to be patient. It was; it was kind of a cage rush [and] a very physical rush. [The] Lions tried to do the same thing. Most teams kind of do that against us – not everybody. Pittsburgh is different. They cage, except for the two guys [Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt] on the edge, and they’re just going. So, different teams play us different ways. But you have to be willing to check it down; you have to be willing to run it; I think you have to be willing to get the ball out quick. You run the RPOs [run-pass options], which we called a lot [of] RPOs yesterday. All those things you have to be able to do. In the second half, the run game kind of started going, and we were in situations … Once we got the lead, we were able to do that. With that score at the end of the half, [it] even gave us a chance to probably run the ball even a little more. But you’re always trying to find … And really in the first half, too, a lot of times, you’re trying to figure out what they are doing to you. Sometimes you’ve got a certain play called, and they bring a front up; it doesn’t work. Or they stem to a front; it’s tough on the play. Or we try to throw a screen … And the defensive end in the one screen we ran that was a loss, he drops right to the screen. It wasn’t something we had seen. Was it even in their call, or did he just feel the screen? You don’t always know. So, you can’t … It’s never a perfect formula – things happen – and you just try to navigate your way through it as a play caller and as the guys make the offensive adjustments in there.”