A Look Back at How the Ravens Ran Through the Bills in Week 4
It’s the matchup we’ve all been waiting for: Lamar Jackson vs. Josh Allen. The two front-runners for the MVP will square off in Buffalo on Sunday with a trip to the AFC Championship on the line.
Perhaps the biggest X-factor in this game, however, will be Derrick Henry. He rushed for 1,921 yards this season with 199 of those coming against the Bills in Week 4. Buffalo had no answer for him or for Baltimore’s run game in general, which racked up 271 yards.
Sean McDermott’s defense will need to be more buttoned up to have a chance in this one.
Below is my breakdown from earlier this fall of the schemes that the Ravens’ run game featured to exploit the Bills defense.
Misdirection in Ravens' Run Game Leads to Blowout Win Over Bills
As the Ravens’ running game goes, their offense goes. And on Sunday night against the Bills, it certainly went. Baltimore racked up 271 yards on 34 carries (8 yards per rush), including 6 runs of at least 10 yards.
It wasn’t just the offensive line dominating in the trenches and Derrick Henry bullying his way to those yards, though. Baltimore’s run game was filled with smoke and mirrors that led to false steps and hesitation by Bills defenders as well as gaping holes. Neither of those are a good thing when Henry and Lamar Jackson are the ball carriers.
The shenanigans in Baltimore’s run game started on their very first play. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken called an influence-wham run. The design of this play is for both guards and the play-side tight end (#42 FB Patrick Ricard in this case) to pull and trap away from the direction of the run. And the trap concept allows for multiple blockers to get up to the second level quickly.
Here’s what it looks like:
Notice how the Bills’ two defensive tackles and defensive end to the left side were unblocked at the snap:
Those three defenders would be picked up by both guards and Ricard:
Not only did these trap blocks seal those defenders inside, their movement to the left influenced Buffalo’s linebackers and play-side safety to move in the same direction initially:
It was enough to allow the center and left tackle, who were able to get up to the second level immediately, to seal them inside. Also, tight end Mark Andrews (#89) was then able to block the safety from the outside-in:
The resulting hole was massive. Henry would make a slight move to the outside in order to take care of the remaining defender, cornerback Rasul Douglas (#31). That got him to jump in that direction (not that he seemed all that eager to get involved in tackling Henry anyway):
And then Henry was off for an 87-yard touchdown to start the night:
Is your refrigerator running? Maybe you should go chase him.
This was such a great call for the first play of the game. That Bills D-line was looking to get after Jackson and Henry early. They wanted to get penetration on the first play of the game and set the tone. This run preyed on that desire.
From that point on, Buffalo’s defense didn’t seem to know up from down. Monken would toy with them for the rest of the night, as you can see on the examples below.
Here’s a quarterback draw with motion by the running back to the flat to sell a bubble screen. Watch how linebacker Baylon Spector (#54) went with the bubble, opening things up inside for Jackson: