When the Baltimore Ravens meet the Houston Texans in the divisional round, every matchup will matter. It always comes down to the players on the field, but the coaching staff can influence the outcome of the game in a similar manner. Why do the Baltimore Ravens have the coaching advantage this week?
3. Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator should beat Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik
When the Baltimore Ravens defense takes on the Houston Texans offense, it will be the better unit on the Texans against the better unit on the Ravens. This will be the side of the ball that decides the outcome of the game. It will also be the biggest coaching matchup. There are real reasons to give the edge to the Baltimore Ravens here because of coaching.
Mike MacDonald is in his second year as defensive coordinator, while Bobby Slowik is in his first. Slowik had a great first year, and his reputation was already high, coming from the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree.
However, if there is one thing that we saw about MacDonald this year, it is that he has had success against this tree. He was hired from Michigan because he had shown to be innovative as a coordinator. This year, it showed.
On Christmas, he turned Brock Purdy into a pumpkin with four interceptions. The very next week, they exposed Tua Tagovailoa. Those are the top two offensive coordinators when it comes to the Shanahan scheme.
The Ravens even played the Bengals twice, which featured Zac Taylor and Sean McVay once as well. Those two run a slightly different scheme, but MacDonald has shown he can handle all of these top-end offenses. Even better than that, in week one, it was the Houston Texans and Bobby Slowik who MacDonald shut down. Both Slowik and C.J. Stroud were young and inexperienced then, but since then, MacDonald has done nothing but show that he is ready to shut down this scheme. Coming into the game, Mike MacDonald has the advantage.
2. The Baltimore Ravens have familiarity with CJ Stroud
This is not quite coach-on-coach, but the Baltimore Ravens have a rare situation where they enter the game with more familiarity with C.J. Stoud than almost any other coaching staff. That is because both of their coordinators come from the college ranks, and both of them happened to play against CJ Stroud when he was in his last year of college.
First, defensive coordinator Mike MacDonald, who hails from Michigan. In 2021, the Ohio State game was the biggest game on the schedule for MacDonald, and he worked all year to beat Stroud at the very end. He has scouted and prepared for him in ways that other coordinators have not.
Then, there is Todd Monken. Monken was Georgia's offensive coordinator last year. That meant that he played against Stroud last year in the College Football Playoff. Stroud had a great game against Georgia, but at the same time, that meant that he heard the meetings and watched the tape of Stroud at college. He knows what Georgia coaches, some of the best college coaches, saw as his weakness.
Both coordinators played him in college; you cannot say that about any other coaching staff this year. That is a pretty notable advantage.
1. The Baltimore Ravens have more experience as head coach
Demeco Ryans looks like he has a bright future as a head coach. In his first year with the Houston Texans, he immediately turned the team around and won them a playoff game. Still, while it is impressive that Ryans is 1-0 in the playoffs, he comes in with much less experience than John Harbaugh.
Harbaugh will be coaching his 21st playoff game when they host the Baltimore Ravens. He is currently 11-9. So, while he does have his share of heartbreak, he also has plenty of successful attempts at the playoffs with the Ravens. While Ryans will hope to have that experience soon, he simply does not.
Experience does not guarantee a win, but often, when you get further into the playoffs, you start to see the same names over and over again because they know how to win these types of games. Ryans can compete, but when it comes to experience, Harbaugh has a significant advantage.