Ravens, Week 3 — What Repeats: Five Rushers Finally Paid Off

Last week this show left a note on the pass defense: it had sent more rushers and the throws kept arriving catchable anyway. On Sunday in Rio, that note broke. Baltimore sent five or more pass rushers on 20 of 45 Dallas dropbacks. That is 44 percent, sixth-highest of the 32 defenses this week, and the second straight week the number went up, after 24 percent against the Colts, the same as across all of last season, and 38 against the Saints. This time the throws moved with it. 27 of Dak Prescott's 40 throws were charted catchable, 68 percent, just under the league median this week. The first two weeks this defense allowed 77 and then 82 percent, and last season's opponents managed 72. So the ball arrived where it could be caught less often than at any point this season, and less often than a year ago.

The split says the extra rusher did the work. On the 20 dropbacks that saw five or more, Prescott completed 11 of 18 throws for 98 yards, took the game's only sack, and scrambled once. On the 25 that saw four or fewer, he went 14 of 22 for a hundred 78 and the touchdown. Eight of his throws were contested, a receiver and a defender arriving together — 20 percent, among the 10 highest this week and a shade above the 19 this defense contested across last season. One throw was charted interception-worthy, a ball a defender should have caught, and it fell incomplete. The Recap gave this unit a middling grade by expected points, and that is fair. The charting adds that the rush finally changed what the quarterback could do with the ball.

Now the offense, where Lamar Jackson did something no quarterback in the league did this week. He was out of the pocket on nine of 22 dropbacks, 41 percent, the highest rate of any offense, where the median was 19. Kansas City was second at 32. In each of the first two weeks it was about 24 percent, and across last season 26. Leaving the pocket was not an escape act. On those nine dropbacks he completed six of seven throws for 77 yards and scrambled twice for 18. From inside the pocket he went nine of 13 for a hundred nine. Both halves worked, and the moving half worked better.

The accuracy came with it. 17 of Jackson's 20 throws were catchable, 85 percent, among the four highest of the 32 teams this week. The first two weeks it was 75 73, and across last season 73. One of the 20 was contested, five percent, against a league median near 12, after 21 percent against the Colts and 13 against the Saints. 20 throws is a small sample and one clean afternoon is not a new quarterback, but it was his highest catchable rate and his lowest contested rate of the three weeks. The one interception-worthy ball came on third and 14 from the Baltimore 21, nine 16 left in the third quarter, up 17 to 13: a deep throw down the left side to Devontez Walker, contested, and it fell incomplete. Baltimore punted, and nothing came of it.

Play-action is now three weeks the same. Eight of 22 dropbacks carried a fake, 36 percent, third-highest this week. It was about 34 percent in Week 1 and 32 in Week 2, all three against 22 percent across last season. Jackson's six play-action throws were all complete, for 77 yards, and both touchdown throws came off a fake — Chris Moore from the four, and the two-yard throw to Matthew Hibner that put Baltimore ahead late. His 14 other throws went nine completions for a hundred nine. The Recap told the short-yardage story, so this show will not. What the charting adds about the run game is the boxes: Dallas put seven or more defenders in the box on 24 of 36 designed runs, and those 24 went for 94 yards. The 12 against six or fewer went for 80. Derrick Henry saw the heavy box on 22 of his 26 carries. Jackson's four designed runs all came against a light box and went for 32.

The run defense went the other way from its first two weeks. Baltimore showed six or fewer in the box on 11 of Dallas's 26 designed runs, 42 percent, fifteenth this week. In Week 1 it was 63 percent and in Week 2 seven of every eight, the most in the league; last season it was 55. So the boxes got heavier than in either of the first two weeks, though still lighter than a year ago, and the yardage more than doubled from the Saints game anyway. 26 designed runs gained a hundred 29 yards, five a run, the sixth-most any defense allowed this week. The 11 light-box runs cost 79 of those yards. Javonte Williams had three runs of 15 yards or more, and all three went off left tackle against a six-man box.

The stat lines have settled, so here they are, scored half-PPR. Henry: 26 carries for 89 yards and two touchdowns, 21.4 points. Jackson: 15 of 20 for a hundred 86 two touchdowns, six carries for 50, 20.4. Zay Flowers caught five of six targets for 84 and added a 20-yard run, 12.9. Hibner caught both his targets for 23 and the score, 9.3. Rashod Bateman two of three for 37, and Mark Andrews three of five for 24. For Dallas, CeeDee Lamb caught seven of eight for a hundred 12, 16.7; Williams ran 19 times for 98 and a touchdown, 17.3; George Pickens seven of 11 for 82.

One line on the yardstick. Through this week the comparison has been to last season's Ravens, a different roster. From here on it becomes this team's own season, three games and counting.

The thread, from the top for anyone new. Baltimore went eight and nine last season with a second-ranked run game, a passing game that ranked 20-fourth, and a pass defense in the twenties. This season it is two and one: a 41 to 23 win at Indianapolis, a 24 to 17 loss to New Orleans, and Sunday's 34 to 31 over Dallas. Last week's notebook had three entries. Play-action more than 10 points over last year held for a third week. Lighter boxes on defense bent: Sunday's were heavier than the first two weeks' but still lighter than last season's, and the run defense gave up more than it did against the Saints. And the pass defense entry, the one that said the rush had not changed where the throw arrived, broke the right way: five rushers, and the catchable rate finally came down. Baltimore is home against the Titans next.

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