Cosell’s Watching: Ravens O Conservative in Season Finale

Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, From the Desk of Greg Cosell, Greg Cosell, Inside the Game

Posted: January 4th, 2012

As he prepares for the Wild Card Playoffs, NFL Matchup’s Executive Producer shares notes from his study of Week 17 coaching tape of the Ravens offense vs. the Bengals defense.

  • Rice 70 yd TD came out of “22” personnel with TE Pitta split at “x”, FB Leach offset strong; Zone run strong with ghost reverse element – Great block by RG Yanda on MLB Maualuga
  • Pitta 39 yds on 3rd + 1 came out of “22” personnel, Shot play out of short yardage
  • Ravens conservative game plan re: personnel and play calling; A lot of “22” personnel with Pitta aligned both at TE and WR, Focus on run game and low risk passes
  • TE Dickson was utilized as the 3rd WR with Smith and Evans
  • Bengals “cover zero blitz” on 3rd + 12 from the Bengals 32, Slot corner Clements part of pressure so S Crocker was man-to-man on Smith – Smith 8 yds
  • TE Pitta played significant snaps as the 2nd WR detached from the formation
  • Pitta a featured player in the Ravens offense, Aligned all over the formation
  • Flacco was a complementary player in this game, The run game was the foundation
  • Bengals continued to show double “A” gap alignments out of their nickel sub-package
  • Rice at times still a tendency to cut back too quickly, Always a more effective runner when he presses downhill and then cuts backs
  • Ravens a predominant zone running team, Guards Yanda and Grubbs have shown good athleticism and movement
  • Pitta 9 yd TD came out of empty set with “12” personnel, Pitta #2 to 3 receiver side matched on CB Clements – Pitta great corner route
  • FB Leach a significant part of the Ravens offense, A high percentage of 2 back sets
  • With Boldin inactive for the 2nd consecutive week Evans played 32 snaps, far fewer than he played a week ago versus the Browns
  • Johnson the wild card in the Bengals defense, Aligned both in a 3 point stance at DE and in a 2 point stance as a roving LB – Johnson as a LB gives Bengals 3-3-5 look in their nickel sub-package
  • Rice 50 yd TD came on 3rd + 1 in the 4th quarter in a 17-13 game, “22” personnel straight “I”; Zone lead with FB Leach excellent lead block on MLB Maualuga – Rice made S Nelson miss in the open field
  • Ravens only 20 called passes in this game, Only three 1st + 10 pass calls out of 18 1st + 10 plays

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