So I wanted to take a look at the Ravens usage of Thomas, I’ve been frustrated watching live about taking away his ball hawking ability by just moving him out of position. Additionally, I wanted to see how deceptive the team really was with some of these packages.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

This is 2nd down after the too many men penalty. Thomas is in the box and Clark is dropping deep. Ultimately, Thomas plays a cloud flat. Which seems ideal for Clark. Ultimately, Clark is out of position, gets lucky that the WR pushes him to draw the OPI and nearly got caught in a DPI if he wasn’t pushed but you have to wonder if Thomas high points that ball and picks it instead. Or alternately, Dalton might just fear Thomas and the throw never gets made.

This one is baffling to me. You know you’re going to be rushing multiple guys from one side because you’ve overloaded them all to one side without any receivers there. So it’s an easy adjustment for the OL to just slide everyone left.

So what’s the result here. First Judon drops he drops into no man’s land because you’re bracketing with your best CB Humphrey on that side he may have gotten home on the rush if he does and Sieler certainly isn’t going to beat the LT from that position. Thomas never gets home because Pierce and Williams are pushed into any gap that would be there. Now there is a chance to basically shut this whole play down but Elliott chases 83 and Carr has no chance to get to Uzomah. But you have to wonder if Thomas stays home instead of misreading Boyd and forces Dalton into a turnover.

Same story here. You bring Thomas to the LOS and you blitz him and you drop Canady into the deep coverage zone. It’s unlikely Thomas is getting home, he’s creating a mismatch, why blitz your best deep defedner and send back your worst one. Just switch their assignments as there is no WR on this side of the field. This is a deep throw by Dalton that goes incomplete and it’s unlikely Thomas gets back for it but again, why is Thomas rushing the passer here?

This is an example of both why Thomas is so good deep and how he can help your underneath guys. Look at Thomas breaking on the ball here. Dalton has not thrown it yet and he’s already moving full speed to get deep over this route. Canady can play aggressively underneath that route and ultimately ends up breaking up this play.

This one look familiar? Just like earlier Thomas is caught in no man’s land where he’s not guarding anyone via the pass so there is no deception here. You know one of Canady and Thomas is going to rush the passer. And you’ve got 4 receivers stacked all on the other side.

Look familiar? It’s a 4×1 and you’ve got an overload on the weak side, again. If you’re the Bengals, you know where the extra rusher is going to come from here. One of those three guys that is going to blitz should be allowed to move across the formation or to somewhere that at least lines up with a man here. Ultimately it’s Humphrey that blitzes. Again, why Humphrey rushing the QB there and not Canady! I just don’t like giving up your two best secondary players and putting them on the wrong side of the LOS.

Alternately, this is a great blitz call. Balanced look, Humphrey is in the slot against Boyd. Comes clean on the blitz, Judon stunts to the middle and it’s an easy confuse and pressure. But this shows the prior play seems like the defense forgot to hit flip defense on the controller. On the image before this one below just move Humphrey to the TE near the 50 and it’s a much more deceptive look and essentially the exact same play.

I’ve said this a few times, I think the Ravens are a bit stubborn about trying to outthink everyone. They don’t do the simple things and don’t take advantage of the fact that you know how other teams will try and avoid Humphrey and Thomas. Instead, they think they can confuse and hide their playmakers at the LOS and take them often out of position to make plays. Predictability is not inherently bad and can be used to your advantage. Be predictable with your best players, particularly Humphrey and Thomas. I think we’d see even more turnovers and impact from both of those guys if that were the case. With the addition of Peters, I’d like to see them let those three guys stay off the LOS and blitz only occasionally (maybe 1-2 times per game) so they can do their thing and find ways to get creative with the other 8 guys on the field underneath.

Jordan Kough
Jordan Kough

Ravens Analyst

Jordan Kough is a graduate of University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He’s a long standing Ravens and Orioles fan of many years. He grew up just north of Baltimore and likes the statistical analysis of games as much as watching games themselves.

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