Baltimore Beatdown
The rookies finally got their second win in the NFL, and it was a big one. After a potential momentum-turner coming out of the bye, they are right back into it — experiencing their first true short week with Miami just ahead on Thursday. First, let’s look into how this past Sunday went.
I was hoping a bye week of self-scouting would help improve Starks’ impact on the team. PFF did not think so, as he received a 50.7 overall grade and a 52.7 coverage grade. If you’ve read the other rookie reports, I generally don’t argue with the PFF grade but try to offer context and hope for the future. This week, I’m very comfortable saying I don’t agree with the grade. Once again, Starks was tasked with a lot of deep coverages, trusted to keep a lid on things and not let passes get over his head. There was a lot of cover two calls with Alohi Gilman, with Starks also playing some deep centerfield cover one assignments and the occasional man coverage snap. From what I saw, he had one or two plays in zone coverage that made me cringe and think he was lost, another two or three that were somewhere in the middle, and the rest were somewhere from adequate coverage to perfect plays. He lost a couple reps in man coverage but has some of his best man coverage reps to-date as well. It was also the first week this season he didn’t play 100% of snaps, playing 58 of the 63.
I’m here to tell you to take a deep breath on the first-round pick and don’t give up yet. Athletically, he looks fantastic. His feet and hips are smooth, and his backpedal is near flawless and quick. More often than not, he looks to be in the right place and makes more than one touchdown-saving tackle a game, covering somebody else’s mistakes. If what every draft analyst and coach, Raven-affiliated and not affiliated, said is true, and he really is this highly advanced IQ player, then the game will slow down for him and he’ll make plays. Right now, in my eyes, he’s doing the job he needs to do to support this defense that’s figuring it out on the fly this season.
We have finally arrived. Mike Green had his first sack on Sunday and it was a beauty. Green earned a clean win on a cross chop move with a skip, had a clean path to the quarterback and finally was able to convert — on a critical third down to force a punt, too. I wouldn’t call it a breakout game for the young rookie, but it feels like a game that helps build towards that moment. We saw Green work a lot of stuff: the cross chop, some power game bull rushes, and ghost moves. He worked stunts, crossing tackles faces with explosiveness to crash in on guards, allowing Travis Jones...
