Ravens, Week 2 — What Repeats: More Rushers, Still Catchable

Baltimore sent five or more pass rushers on 15 of New Orleans' 39 dropbacks on Sunday — 38 and a half percent, twelfth-highest of the 32 defenses this week. Last week in Indianapolis it was 24 percent, and across all of last season it was 24 as well. So the rush changed. The catchable rate did not come down. 28 of Tyler Shough's 34 throws were charted catchable, 82 percent, the fifth-highest share any defense allowed this week, where the median was 73. Last week the Colts' figure against this defense was 77, eighth-highest. Across 2025, opponents threw catchable balls on 72 percent of their throws against Baltimore. Two games, two different rush plans, and both times the ball arrived where it could be caught more often than it did a year ago. Not one of Shough's 34 throws was charted interception-worthy, a ball a defender should have caught, and the Ravens were one of 12 defenses this week that did not see a single one. The Recap put the loss on third and long. The charting says the whole afternoon's throws were catchable at a rate well above what this defense allowed across last season.

The rest of the pass defense's sheet is less alarming. Six of the 34 throws were contested, a receiver and a defender arriving together — 18 percent, seventh-highest this week, close to the 19 percent this defense contested across last season. Last week it was 29 percent, the highest of any defense in the league, so that figure came back to last year's level while the catchable figure stayed up. The Saints barely used the fake: six play-action dropbacks of 39, 15 percent, tied with the Panthers for the 20-seventh-highest rate the 32 defenses faced, against 19 percent for last season's opponents. Shough's four play-action throws went three for 22 yards, and his 30 others went 24 for 230.

The run defense is the half of the plan that worked, and it worked with fewer bodies, not more. Baltimore showed six or fewer in the box on 21 of New Orleans' 24 designed runs — seven of every eight, the highest share of any defense in the league this week, against a median of 44. Last week in Indianapolis it was 63 percent, tied for seventh; across all of last season, 55. The average box was just over six defenders, against 6.6 a year ago. The Saints got 54 yards on those 24 runs, about two and a quarter a run, among the five lowest allowed of the 32. Two weeks, both lighter boxes than last season. The first cost 98 yards on 19 designed runs. The second cost 54 yards on 24.

On offense, one repeat is the fake. Baltimore used play-action on 12 of 37 dropbacks, 32 percent, eighth-highest of the 32 this week; last week it was 10 of 29, 34 and a half percent, fifth; across last season, 22. Two games, both 10 to 12 points over last year's habit. And it paid again: Lamar Jackson's 10 play-action throws went seven completions for a hundred three yards, and his other 21 went 14 for a hundred 32. Motion moved the same way twice as well, on 34 of 71 charted plays, 48 percent, eighteenth this week, after 53 and a half last week and 42 across 2025. No-huddle went the other way: nine percent of snaps, seventh this week, after two percent in Indianapolis and three across last season.

The run game got a lighter look than it usually sees and used it less. The Saints showed six or fewer in the box on seven of Baltimore's 18 designed runs, 39 percent, nineteenth this week, against 33 percent across last season and 29 in Indianapolis; the average box was 6.6, against seven a year ago. Those 18 designed runs went for 74 yards, 4.1 a run, eleventh this week. Last week there were 31 designed runs for a hundred 67 yards. The Recap counted 22 rush plays with the scrambles in; the charting, which leaves scrambles out, counts 18 designed runs among 71 charted plays. The lighter box was there, on fewer runs.

Jackson's own charting settled down in one place and held in another. 22 of his 31 throws were catchable, 71 percent, eighteenth this week, just under the 72 he posted across last season and in Indianapolis. Contested throws came back down: four of 31, 13 percent, tied with three other offenses for fourteenth, after 20 percent last week and 11 across 2025. One ball was interception-worthy, three percent, tied for eleventh-highest, after one on 25 throws last week and six on 304 across all of last season, two percent. That interception-worthy throw was also the game's only interception. The charting put none of the Recap's three sacks on him — zero quarterback-fault sacks on 37 dropbacks, after none on 29 last week and nine across 2025. He was outside the pocket on nine of the 37. New Orleans sent five or more rushers on 14 of Baltimore's 37 dropbacks, 38 percent, a few points over the 34 this offense saw across last season.

The stat lines have settled, so here they are, scored half-PPR. Rashod Bateman led the Ravens at 18.3, seven catches on nine targets for 88 and the touchdown. Derrick Henry, 16 carries for 68 and a score +3 catches for 19, 16.2. Jackson, 21 of 31 for 235, a touchdown and an interception, and four carries for 34, 14.8. Mark Andrews, six catches on seven targets for 49, 7.9. Devontez Walker caught one of two targets for 47 yards. For New Orleans, Shough scored 22.4 on 27 of 34 for 252, a touchdown passing and the winning one on the ground; Chris Olave caught eight of 10 for 86 and a touchdown, 18.6; Juwan Johnson four of four for 66, 8.6.

A word on the comparison, because the show's name asks something two games cannot answer. Through Week 3 the yardstick here is the 2025 Ravens, not this season — a roster that has changed in places and is a year older everywhere. That tells you what was unusual on Sunday, not what is true of this team. Indianapolis was last week, one game, and it is not a season rate. Two games are the start of a sort, not the end of one.

For anyone new, the thread. Last season the Ravens went eight and nine; the run game ranked second in the league by expected points per play and the run defense seventh, but the passing offense was 20-fourth and the pass defense 20-first. Week 1 was a 41 to 23 win in Indianapolis. Week 2 was a 24 to 17 loss at home. What moved the same way both weeks: play-action 10 to 12 points over last year, more motion, a defense showing lighter boxes than it did a year ago, one interception-worthy throw from Jackson each week after two percent last season, no sack charted as his fault, and catchable throws allowed above last season's 72. What reversed: the contested throws on both sides and how often the offense ran; the five-or-more rush, flat in Week 1, jumped this week. The notebook entry is the pass defense. It has allowed catchable balls at 77 and then 82 percent under two different rush plans. On Sunday, when Baltimore sends five or more, watch where the throw arrives.

That's your Ravens — every game, by the numbers. This is Muffed: we do the same deep dive for all 32 teams. Follow the Ravens show wherever you're listening, so next week's recap lands the moment it's out. No theater. Just the football.

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_Data via nflverse. Charting: FTN Data via nflverse._