Ravens Offensive Gameplan: Attacking The Bills
The Baltimore Ravens Have to force the Buffalo Bills into playing on their terms. When the season kicks off, everything starts with the running game:
The Baltimore Ravens are going into the hardest regular season game to game plan for. Other than preseason football there is no fresh game tape to study. 2015 is in the books. Over the course of the offseason, both teams have made big changes.
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The Ravens aren’t going to look at the Bills as a mystery though. John Harbaugh is familiar with the Rex Ryan brand of football. Tyrod Taylor was Joe Flacco’s understudy for five seasons. There is some familiarity. Based on this familiarity, game tape from last season and the preseason, the purple and black can develop a plan of attack.
So what do we know about the Bills? We know that their pass rush will be formidable. We know because the Ryan brothers fill the head coach and defensive coordinator positions, that the defense will be aggressive. Jerry Hughes is their most dangerous player; Flacco must be protected from the high-octane pass rusher.
The first thing the Baltimore has to do is impose their will on the Bills. It sounds cliché, but setting the terms with a physical running game is critical. The zone blocking scheme of the Ravens will stretch the Bills defense out. When the ground game gets rolling early it will provide a multitude of benefits, and wearing down the opponent is huge.
The run game will help the passing attack. The Ravens should run right at Hughes, making him work as an edge setter rather than a bowling ball flying to get a strike on Flacco. You’re going to notice a theme to my outlined attack. Anything that slows the Bills down is a good thing.
Because of an established run game the play-action game will become a huge weapon for the Ravens. The stretch play sets up the deep play-action pass. This is where the deep threats and tight ends can make a difference. Look for Mike Wallace to get involved here with the deep passing game.
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The Ravens need to throw in a scattered assortment of draws and screens. The idea is to get the Bills to pay for blitzing too much. You know pressure is coming. From anywhere and everywhere pass rush is the Ryan way. Rex Ryan has always been known for overload blitzes. A perfectly timed screen could therefore mean open field for the Ravens running backs to exploit.
If the Ravens use a balanced attack that makes the Bills tentative they will win. If they can bully the Bills up front they will win. The purple and black’s attack must be rooted in the rushing attack. It will set everything up for the Ravens offense.