If the Baltimore Ravens can make someone slip, they will. Lamar Jackson, Marquise Brown, Mark Ingram, Willie Snead and Mark Andrews have torched defenses all season long with the ball in their hands.
On Sunday, Nov. 17, the Houston Texans will witness the slippery Ravens as they face them in Maryland at noon CT. The NFL’s top-ranked rush-offense (197.2 yards per game), Baltimore is capable of giving the Texans problems. Houston can negate that with sound-tackling and clean play.
“If you look at the games, whether it was the NFL or college, I do think that these games are coming down to mistakes – turnovers, bad tackling, penalties,” said coach Bill O’Brien on Monday.
The Texans are eighth in the NFL in missed tackles (68), as of Nov. 9, per Pro Football Reference. They have allowed the NFL’s most yards after the catch (1,205). That has to change against the Ravens.
O’Brien has three names in mind who will help the Texans’ tackling woes: Safety Justin Reid and inside linebackers Benardrick McKinney and Zach Cunningham.
“So, I think any time you have guys that can tackle, which Justin (Reid) can do. We have guys that can tackle – (Benardrick) McKinney and Zach (Cunningham) and all the other guys out there,” said O’Brien. “We feel like we have a pretty good tackling team. I think that’s important, especially against a team like this.”
Reid, McKinney, and Cunningham have combined for 176 total tackles to 19 missed tackles on the year. They are not the problem. However, they also aren’t the entire solution for containing the Ravens’ defense. The three are second-level defenders.
To truly contain the electric Ravens’ offense, Houston must play with sound gap-control upfront while simultaneously setting the edge consistently. It won’t be easy without J.J. Watt.
However, that’s football. Adapt and survive or perish; it’s as simple as that.