Originally posted by Psinex:
What I've noticed is that teams seem to be so scared of Lamar Jackson's running ability that they leave receivers running wide open all over the place. I didn't see Jackson make any difficult passes, they were all wide open. Reminds me of when Kaepernick's first year. The threat of the run probably gets defenses to cheat up toward the line. Kaepernick looked good passing because he didn't have to make difficult reads, he'd see a receiver get open and throw it as hard as he could in a line drive with little to no arc. The NY Giants and Ravens seemed to have figured out Kaepernick, and both teams had outstanding defensive fronts at the time. The Packers and Falcons did not, and got gashed by Kaepernick's big runs.
I'm not sure which of the Raven's 2019 opponents we can compare ourselves to, but if we are only rushing 3 or 4 linemen and getting pressure, I think we'll have more discipline than teams that blitz consistently. Armstead, DJ Jones and Buckner will be key to keeping rushes up the middle contained. But Fred Warner, Greenlaw and the safeties will need to lock down the edges, which will be much easier said than done. I'm not sure how good the Rams secondary is, but surely we won't have as many blown assignments as the Rams did tonight.
I think rather than our defense, I think our offense is key to victory. Jimmy and Company have to play keep away and keep that ball away from Lamar and that run offense. I think it's too hard to shut down the Baltimore offense, I'd settle for slowing them down. If we can get an early lead, they'll have to start passing which is Baltimore's weak spot on offense (so says the stat machine). If our defense can't slow down the Baltimore offense, it's going to be another Seadderall Seachicken game where - whoever the last one to score, wins the game.
