Are We Ready For Baltimore

[Hawaii 5-0]

Steelers vs. Ravens: Keys to stopping Baltimore's zone running with Ray Rice

By Paper Champions on Nov 16



The Chiefs had success against the Steelers in their zone-running concept with Jamaal Charles. Baltimore runs this same concept, as the Steelers know. How can Pittsburgh stop it?

During the Ravens season-opening win against the Steelers last year, Ray Rice had success running the outside zone (stretch) play against the Steelers' vaunted run defense. At the time, many people attributed the success to the Ravens new-found willingness to employ the dreaded chop-block against the Steelers defensive linemen - specifically, Matt Birk and guards Ben Grubbs and Marshall Yanda made life miserable for Casey Hampton.

Hampton even said as much post game. With the success that the Chiefs had running the ball on Monday night, should Steeler fans be worried about watching Ray Rice run all over the Steelers' D? To answer that question, it's important to go back and look at what the Chiefs did last week successfully.

Last week, the Kansas City was at times able to implement what the stretch play is designed to do: stretch a defense parallel to the line of scrimmage. Invariably, a horizontal seam will present itself to a back. If that back is talented enough, he can plant his outside foot and hit it. The stretch first became popular in the NFL in the mid 1980's just for those reasons. First, allow your most talented runner to trust their innate ability. Second, put the offensive lineman in a position to, be successful. Don't ask them to knock a defensive lineman 5 yards off the ball. Instead, influence them to move horizontally and see if a back can make everyone look good. To some football purists (think Joey Porter pre Indy Colts playoff game a few years back), this is the antithesis of football. It is soft. But, there is o denying its effectiveness.

So, the Chiefs deserve some credit for implementing and executing a good scheme against the Steelers, but as is often the case, LeBeau got the last laugh. LeBeau saw the difficulties the defense was having and did what all great coaches do: he put his players in a position to be successful.

The adjustment was quite simple. He played Woodley and Harrison wider on the TE. On the snap, they would get penetration immediately and turn their shoulders perpendicular to the line of scrimmage. This forced Charles to make his cut much sooner; essentially eliminating the "stretch" from the play. This allowed the linebackers to play much faster and the gains became much smaller. KC tried to adjust to this by running more of a lead play with their fullback. But, the insertion of the Fullback took out their alignment advantage. Moreover, their fullback could not handle our OLB'ers. Advantage: Steelers.

Once again, credit goes to the Chiefs for implementing a good plan. More credit should go to the Steelers for not panicking and giving up a big play, but also for having an adjustment ready that the Chiefs could not answer. What does all of that portend for this week?

The Ravens have, obviously, some advantages over Kansas City. Ray Rice is a better running back than Jamaal Charles and Joe Flacco is a much better quarterback than Matt Cassel. But, Cassel is able to do one thing that Flacco does not excel at: running the naked boot off of the stretch actions.

Flacco can run play action toward the run, but he is not that adept at faking the run, reversing out with depth, and snapping his head around to find an open receiver. Not to say that he cannot do this, or he has never done it. Just that it is not as big as a threat as it would be with the smaller and quicker Cassel.

This helps the Steelers because it allows them to be much more aggressive with either outside linebacker pursuing the play from behind. Harrison has caused many a fumble in his day doing exactly this.

During the game, watch the outside linebacker away from the run. See if he is pursuing hard down the line to take away the cut back.

Also, the aforementioned Ben Grubbs now plays with the New Orleans Saints. The Ravens also have a rookie starting at right tackle. Therefore, I think it is fair to point out that KC might have a better run-blocking offensive line than the Ravens.

We'll see.

Finally, LeBeau has had the entire offseason to prepare for this game. The situation is reversed from last year. The Ravens made an adjustment that obviously caught the Steelers off-guard. They were much better against the run in the second game last year. What will LeBeau have up his sleeve for this game? It will be fascinating to watch and find out.

http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com...ntasy-football

[ricardisimo]

Decide for yourselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_..._by_crime_rate
http://www.city-data.com/top2/c3.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/...-in-us-285701/

[Hawaii 5-0]

[FrancoLambert]

I'm really concerned about the Pitta vs. our LB coverage match-up and Torrey Smith's ability to make a play on a deep ball vs. our corners.

[Hawaii 5-0]

Originally Posted by FrancoLambert

I'm really concerned about the Pitta vs. our LB coverage match-up and Torrey Smith's ability to make a play on a deep ball vs. our corners.

I think Joe Flaccid should be concerned about LaMarr Woodley...

[i82much]

Originally Posted by Blackened Yellowfin Toona

I live in Baltimore. How anybody can defend this place and actually put other cities down completely blows my mind.

Then leave. Living somewhere and dragging it down on a public forum is a perfect example of classless behavior. Oh, and unless you are from west PA, being a bandwagon fan is gay as fuck too.

[Bayz101]

Originally Posted by i82much

Then leave. Living somewhere and dragging it down on a public forum is a perfect example of classless behavior. Oh, and unless you are from west PA, being a bandwagon fan is gay as fuck too.

In all due respect, this is a Pittsburgh Steelers forum. If you expect to see smiles and a little heart to dot the I, you're in the wrong place. We love the rivalry, and there are a few good and respectful Ravens fans, but for the most part they come this way to either start shit or dog on us. Coming in here and telling someone they're not fans if they don't live in Pennsylvania is completely bullshit and opinionated. I'm from Mansfield, Ohio, born and raised, and I was wearing Steelers pajamas on my way out of the hospital.

Go to whatever forum it is you regulate, and take a look at the memberlist. I GUARANTEE you'll find at least 10, maybe 20 Ravens fans from outside of Baltimore who've contributed MASS amounts of posts to your forum. Of course, your forum has to have a respectable amount of posts for this to mean anything, but you get the point. Your view on bandwagon fans is dumb. I like to think Steelers don't have "bandwagon" fans. There's simply a large group of people who "see" seven rings, and recognize a TRUE NFL franchise and stick with it. You know, common sense.

Don't give me shit about the difference between our two franchises, either. Sure, we've been around since the 30's, but here's what you seem to ignore: We won all of our rings in bunches, and with some of the best football teams to EVER step onto the football field. The 1970's Steelers and the Steelers of 2005 and 2008 solidified the Steelers and the greatest team in the Super Bowl Era. It's time for us to come together as a team yet again, and we'll win a few more in the near future. Your team on the other hand? Same excellent squad since the early days. Same BIG playmakers on defense. ONE Super Bowl. THAT is all I have to say. I'm not wasting any more time.

[Bayz101]

Originally Posted by ricardisimo

Decide for yourselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_..._by_crime_rate
http://www.city-data.com/top2/c3.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/...-in-us-285701/

And THAT should put an end to the "Pittsburgh is a shit-hole" discussion, especially considering Baltimore is ahead of us in every category. The reason I word it this way is simply because Baltimore citizens will assume that being ahead is a good thing and possibly run home to their homes and tell their mommas. Granted of course they don't get shot.

EDIT: Not homes. Trailer. My bad.

[Bayz101]

Hopefully that puts an end to the Ravens fans bullshit. I LOVE the way these teams play out on the field when we meet up every year, but some of the ignorant shit your fans come in here and spew is embarrassing. It really is. I used to think it was ANY fan base, and then the Giants fans came in here after our win just to CONGRATULATE us on our hard-fought win, and even apologize for bad officiating! You Ravens fans seem to come by just to talk shit and get BURNED in the process of it. Send you on your way with your tail between your legs and you come back a year later pretending it never happened! I love it. Whatever makes you guys feel better. Keep it coming. I'M done with it, but i'm sure some other Steelers fans will take the time to roast you.

Disclaimer: That little rant doesn't go for ALL Ravens fans. There's been a few good ones over the years, but it's about as rare as a Baltimore Super Bowl win.

[tony hipchest]

baltimore is the home of john waters and his infamous cinematic characers in Pink Flamingo, Female Troubles, and Pecker.

Divine is the epitome of ALL ravenfans-

=[YOUTUBE]lPRKE0TKbTk[/YOUTUBE]

silly ravenfans. always counting their eggs before their hatched-

=[YOUTUBE]DpRn4Q4V81o&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]

enuff said.