Super Bowl LIV: What Ravens can learn from Chiefs and 49ers
What the Ravens can learn from the 49ers:
The San Francisco 49ers are the kings of getting great pressure on the quarterback without having to blitz. The 49ers have an incredible defensive line. Nick Bosa had nine sacks this season. Arik Armstead had 10 sacks and DeForest Buckner had 7.5. While Matt Judon was the only player on the Ravens who had more than five sacks, the 49ers had an entire defensive line full of players who could win one on one match ups. It’s amazing how much easier life is for a defensive coordinator when he has several players in the trenches who can dominate the player across from them.
The Ravens need to take note of this and get defensive linemen who can contribute more as pass rushers. The Ravens also need to find an inside linebacker like Fred Warner. Warner is an every down linebacker with virtually no limitations. He flies around on the football field. Obviously, the Ravens play a different system defensively but the Ravens need to find a Warner like leader for the middle of their defense. The Ravens need complete linebackers who can play equally good in run and pass defense. They don’t have that.
NFL Mock Draft: Ravens go with an edge rusher. dark. Next
While the main lesson here is that the Ravens need to be able to generate pass rush without relying heavily on blitzes, the overarching point is that a dominant front seven helps the entire defense. The Ravens secondary is objectively better than that of the 49ers. If you put a much more complete front seven in front of Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters, Earl Thomas and the rest of the Ravens defensive backs, the roster would just scream “Super Bowl LV, here we come!”