Houston Texans Battle Ravens: Running Game Crucial

SportsGrid

Watch Houston Texans Battle Ravens: Running Game Crucial - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - Watching CJ Stroud in last week's playoffs games

00:15 was obviously amazing.

00:17 The problem is, they're gonna be going on the road

00:19 to Baltimore against a very tough pass defense.

00:22 The first and foremost issue

00:23 is gonna be the potential for some wind.

00:25 And the Houston Texans love to push the ball

00:28 down the field on early downs in the first three quarters.

00:31 In fact, they have the third highest average

00:34 target on early downs in the first three quarters.

00:37 And they like to throw the ball 15 plus yards

00:39 at one of the top seven highest rates

00:41 of any team in the NFL.

00:43 With those higher winds, that's gonna be a predicament.

00:45 The second element is the Ravens defense is outstanding

00:49 against these types of passes.

00:50 Against passes thrown 15 plus yards down the field

00:52 on early downs, the Ravens is number one in EPA per attempt,

00:56 number one in yards per attempt,

00:58 number two in completion rate,

00:59 and number three in success rate.

01:01 The other concern that I have is on the road,

01:04 the pass defenses that this Houston Texans offense

01:08 has faced on early downs,

01:09 on those deeper passes that they like to throw.

01:12 Number 31 Panthers, number 30 Titans,

01:14 number 29 Falcons, number 26 Colts,

01:17 number 23 Jaguars, number 20 Bengals,

01:20 and number 11 Jets.

01:21 Meaning they've played some very bad defenses

01:24 against deeper passes on early downs.

01:26 The Ravens are obviously not that at all.

01:28 They're elite against that.

01:30 What the Texans must do is come out here

01:32 and try to run the football.

01:34 The Ravens play with light boxes on these early downs

01:37 and one of the highest rates in the NFL,

01:38 like top two highest rate.

01:40 And when teams run the ball on these early downs

01:42 with their running backs, they have outstanding success.

01:45 The Baltimore Ravens run defense actually ranks dead last

01:48 in success rate, EPA per attempt, and yards per carry

01:51 on early downs in the first three quarters

01:53 if you come out and run your running back.

01:56 That will force them to put an extra defender in the box

01:59 and then you can utilize play action off of that.

02:01 But if the Houston Texans fall into a hole,

02:03 I think it's gonna be difficult for them

02:04 to dig themselves out because they're gonna be

02:06 predictably passing the ball into a great defense

02:09 of the Baltimore Ravens.

02:10 They must come out with intelligent play calling

02:13 and try to move the ball on the ground

02:15 until the Ravens load the box, then they can start passing.

02:18 (upbeat music)

02:20 (bells chiming)

Category

Transcript

Recommended