Perhaps the most important player in this scheme, however, is fullback Charles Evans, whom Billick thinks is one of the best in the business. Coach Brian Billick has devised schemes and formations to simplify the blocking schemes and give his offensive line better angles coming off the line of scrimmage. The Ravens have run the ball more effectively than most would have originally thought coming into the season. The key for the Chiefs will be to force Woodson to take some false steps on the play fake and take advantage of the man-to-man coverage on the receivers.īaltimore offense vs. The Ravens cornerbacks have had a terrible time in coverage, so it has forced defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis to run more cover-two looks, where Duane Starks and DeRon Jenkins are able to play more physical off the line of scrimmage without worrying about getting beat deep because they have help from weak safety Rod Woodson on an individual basis. Quarterback Elvis Grbac has been effective when the team is able to bootleg off the play fake, giving Grbac an easier one-side read with favorable man-to-man matchups on receivers Derrick Alexander and Andre Rison. The Chiefs, as always, will look to take advantage of a strong run game in order to run play-action and dictate the matchups they are looking for. Herring will be playing closer to the line of scrimmage and will be playing more as a 4-4 linebacker who will be counted on to shut down the cutback lanes. Herring has only 16 tackles in a system that is designed for the strong safety to make plays. The key on Sunday against the run will be the play of strong safety Kim Herring. Peter Boulware hasn't been real productive as far as tackles are concerned, but he's drawing double teams to allow for Jamie Sharper and Lewis to make more plays against the run. He already has minus-16 yards in tackles and has cleaned up just about everything between the tackles. Middle linebacker Ray Lewis is having perhaps the best season of his career. The emergence of Larry Webster has been a major difference up front because of his ability to occupy the offensive line and allow the linebacking corps to make plays. The front four has been dominant, plugging holes and shooting gaps. As long as this unit stays healthy, it can only get better. Gunther Cunningham likely will use more of a running back-by-committee system, and try to utilize the different running styles to kept the Ravens defense off balance.īaltimore has been stout all season against the run, ranking seventh in the league and only allowing 83.2 yards per game. The interesting dilemma now is the decision of how to spread the ball to running backs Rashaan Shehee, Donnell Bennett and Bam Morris, all three of which are healthy for the first time in four weeks. For the first time in weeks, the offensive line should be healthy Thursday night. The Chiefs have built their offense around the offensive line, but to this point that unit has been decimated by injury and has had little time to play together as a group.
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