Baltimore Beatdown
The snap count for the Ravens’ rookies continues to rise as the team’s injuries mount. Three draft picks are starting on defense, another two are special teams starters, and an undrafted free agent is likely the starting slot corner for a few weeks. With so many injuries and struggles on team, things are going to change on this defense.
Let’s talk about how they played against the Chiefs, review their season so far, and take a look at what their roles could be going forward.
Despite a bad day from the defense overall, Starks had a bounce-back game after his season-worst performance against Detroit. Starks played 100% of the snaps again and received a 69.3 overall grade from PFF, including a 77.6 tackling grade and 67.3 coverage grade. Overall this season, Starks seems to be a steady presence on the backend as the one thing this defense doesn’t do is let up deep plays, maybe to their detriment. The Ravens have run mostly two deep safety coverages like Cover 2 and 4, and few Cover 1 and 3 snaps. That could change as the defense undergoes massive shifts with injuries and poor play. Adding more to Stark’s plate and letting him be a centerfielder more with less help could improve the defense. Every stone will be unturned as the witching hour approaches for this team.
It’s time to reset our expectations for Green. Many, including myself, viewed him as a potential savior for this pass rush unit, someone they could rely on in the playoffs to get pressure with four rushers. While a double-digit sack total was a lofty goal as a rookie, more than five sacks both felt realistic and impactful for his skill level and draft status. So far, it’s been tough sledding for Green. His pass rush moves are winning as often as expected and he’s playing an elevated number of snaps against the run, a role the Ravens were hoping he could avoid as a rookie.
Against the Chiefs, Green played 45 snaps (63%) and earned a 43.4 grade from PFF. Context here is required. Coordinator Zach Orr has been putting Green and other outside linebackers as inside backers for run snaps. He’s also used Green in coverage a bit. Neither of those is putting a rookie in the best position to succeed. Because of that, Green’s run and coverage grades were 53.8 and 28.0, respectively. He earned a 75.5 tackling grade and a 65.8 pass rush grade. So you can see where the overall grade was pulled down. As the year goes on and the Ravens make adjustments to their defense, they should allow Green to focus on pass rushing.
Buchanan had what’s likely the worst game of his short NFL career against the Chiefs. This is nothing unusual, as the Chiefs are one of the best teams at attacking inside linebackers, and Andy Reid’s scheme is one of the most complex and complicated to...
