Why Defenses Need to "Contain" to have Success

Containment is a concept forced onto football players from the very beginning. How else would 8-year-olds stop those sweeps that are so common at the Peewee level?

Yet, that very concept confounds players at every level. From the high school game I covered for my day job last week, in which a physically dominant team continued to give up big outside runs and thus allowed the lesser opponent to stay in the game, to the Baltimore Ravens big win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, containment is a crucial concept that too often goes ignored.

The Steelers ran several end-arounds in the game last week, some of which were well defended and others less so. Let's take a look at these plays to get an idea about the critical concept of containment.

How the Ravens Brought Pressure Against Big Ben

In week one against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Ravens defense was barely able to get pressure on quarterback Andy Dalton. According to Pro Football Focus, the defense recorded zero sacks, one quarterback hit, and four quarterback hurries on 43 pass attempts.

Before the game was even over, fans were calling for Dean Pees' head and pining for the days of the "aggressive" Ravens defense under Rex Ryan.

But then the Steelers came to town, and the Ravens' pass rush was born again. The defense recorded 11 sacks, hits, or hurries on 41 pass attempts against the Steelers, highlighted by Upshaw's huge hit on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger early in the first quarter.

Much of the difference can be attributed to offensive scheme, of course. Cincy brought a smart, efficient game plan to Baltimore in week one, and they used it to negate the Ravens front seven. And even though Pittsburgh used a lot of the same strategies in week two - screens, reverses, and quick-hitting pass plays - the Ravens also countered with some new wrinkles of their own.

Let's take a look at what Baltimore did to get pressure on the Steelers last Thursday.

How to Attack the Browns Defense

The Browns' defense has been up-and-down so far this season.

They completely shut down the prolific Saints offense (10 first-half points due to a late touchdown), but they also let the Steelers gash them for 27 first-half points. Statistically, their lean periods have left them near the bottom of the league in team defense (27th in Defensive DVOA and 31st in yards per play), but the Browns' defense should not be taken lightly.

The Browns run a very complicated defense designed to disguise pressures and confuse the quarterback into throwing ill-advised passes.  This compliments an aggressive run defense focused on creating negative plays by penetrating with second level players.

The Ravens offense will have their hands full on Sunday.  The team will need a cohesive, communicative effort from their offensive personnel as the Browns tend to play a bit unconventionally in order to capitalize on undisciplined play.

Early Takeaways from the New-Look Baltimore Ravens Offense

The hiring of offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak was one of the biggest coaching moves of the NFL offseason. As one of the smartest offensive minds in the game, the debut of his new Baltimore Ravens offense was eagerly anticipated by fans and players alike.

Though the results against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 looked good on paper (5th-most total yards in the league), it was far from an impressive performance for the new-look offense.

One game does not a season make, however, and there is plenty of time for the Ravens to correct their mistakes. Given the very small sample size at our disposal, overreactions and extensive extrapolations are unwise, but here are some interesting takeaways from the Week 1 action.

Examining the Ravens Bend-But-Don't-Break Defense

The Ravens defense got gashed by Cincinnati on Sunday. The Dalton-led Bengals gained 301 yards through the air (7.9 yards per attempt) and 79 yards on the ground (3.04 yards per attempt) but were held to one touchdown and a 28% fourth-down efficiency.  Bend-but-don't-break, right?

Let me start by saying that I don't think any coordinator maintains the philosophy of stopping an offense only in the red-zone. I'll criticize Dean Pees' defensive game-plan, but I also think this defense's propensity to stop teams in the red-zone is due to the secondary personnel being far more suited to defending compressed fields.

Additionally, Dean Pees has been bashed for not being as aggressive as his Baltimore predecessors, Rex Ryan and Chuck Pagano. Pees has certainly been less blitz-heavy in his approach, but fans have to keep in mind the drop-off in secondary personnel that facilitated this change. Losing Ray Lewis, and to a greater extent Ed Reed, has disrupted the schemes that elevated the Ravens defense to top-of-the-league status throughout the 2000s.

Scouting the Ravens Offensive Rookies

NFL Draft season is an exciting time for every franchise.  What new tools can the coaching staff use in the coming season to replace those departed and/or bolster the current roster?  For months, us Ravens fans had only college film to go by, wondering how each player's respective college system would project into the Ravens offense.

With the preseason in the books, we've gotten to see just how the Ravens rookies fared in their first NFL(-esque) appearances.

A brief note: Scouting players using the TV tape is very difficult.  I've tried to mitigate this disadvantage by watching every preseason snap of every Ravens rookie.  Here's what I found:

Darian Stewart Scouting Report

At this point, the biggest mystery on the Baltimore Ravens' defense is Darian Stewart.

Ravens fans generally know three things about him: his name, that he will be a starting safety, and that he's known more as a run-stuffer than a coverage guy.

His actual style of play is a relative mystery to all but the most die-hard fans, and his signing barely registered for most.

So for all of those who need a primer on the Ravens' presumptive starting safety, here's a scouting report on the least-known name on the Ravens' defense.