As we have done for many years, each week we will break down the Pittsburgh Steelers opponent and tell you what to expect from a schedule and individual player standpoint. Like last year, Josh Carney and I will cover the opposing team’s offense. I’ll focus on the scheme, Josh on the players. Today our scouting report on the Baltimore Ravens offense.

*Important NOTE. For today’s report, we’re going to do things a little differently. Since the Steelers played the Ravens relatively recently, we have an abridged version that focuses on the Pittsburgh-Baltimore game in Week 11. Therefore, this report will be structured slightly differently and will provide a more focused analysis, as the overall scheme and individual cases are similar.

Alex’s plan report

Ravens’ run game

In the Week 11 game, Baltimore’s running game was subdued compared to season standards (second in rushing yards per game, fourth in rushing attempts). Against Pittsburgh, the Ravens ran the ball just 19 times for 124 yards and one touchdown. Partly because they played from the back and didn’t have the ball for very long, under 24 minutes. Their three ball losses didn’t help.

Stud RB Derrick Henry was held in check and often held without the ball. Just 13 carries for 65 yards and a touchdown. After halftime, he only had six carries for 13 yards. Expect the Ravens to go to great lengths to secure the football for him in the rematch.

Baltimore’s plan was to use zone read RPOs and spread things out. With Pittsburgh focusing on Henry, Lamar Jackson had more freedom and space in the planned running game.

He finished the game with four carries for 46 yards. The Ravens ran the ball primarily on their RPOs; I wonder if they’ll throw a few early this time.

Henry’s longest run of the day, a 31-yarder, came inside the zone to the 11-man boundary with receiver movement. Again, the Ravens’ plan was to keep their distance and not condense the formation. Eleven guys here with the tight end to close a gap in a two-point stance and blocking like that would be the equivalent of a jet run or a swing pass. Baltimore runs on the weak side where the Steelers are weak.

They played power/gap but had less success, which is typical of the Steelers offense. Henry’s touchdown was a gap run that the backside guard pulled.

Ravens’ passing game

Jackson has struggled more against the Steelers than any other team this year. He completed less than half of his passes, 16 of 33 for 207 yards with one touchdown and one pick. He was fired twice. Pittsburgh sent five or more rushes in half the time and kept it well in check.

The Ravens threw more than they ran, which is out of their element. They had 10 passes and nine rushes on first downs in the first three quarters. They have had 152 rushes and 119 passes in such situations on the season. Pittsburgh’s focus on cutting the lead forced them to pass.

Still, the Ravens made some big plays. Because so much attention is paid to their running game, fakes occur downfield. They hit Isaiah Likely and got a big gain on an errant throw to the boundary.

The most common concept and look was the 3×1 clusters. Tight and loose groups that flooded Pittsburgh’s zone defense well. Not everything worked, but that was part of the Ravens’ plan. Examples below.

RB Justice Hill didn’t practice on Wednesday, but if he plays, expect him to be used in the passing game. He’s an underrated part of it and had a five-catch, 61-yard, one-touchdown performance against the New York Giants. Knowing that Pittsburgh had trouble beating Philadelphia’s Kenneth Gainwell, a similarly built running back, in space last Sunday, I would expect Baltimore to see if it can match that success. Of course, ILB Payton Wilson was tasked with stopping him in the first and came away with a clutch interception on a curl/wheel route.

Still, Hill is committed to the screen/swing and design route game, and that was clear throughout the day.

In “and-long” situations, the Ravens kept the tight end and initially returned to chip and only had three receivers out in the pattern.

Josh’s individual report

For the second time in 34 days and their first meeting since Week 11 at Acrisure Stadium, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens will once again face off in the AFC North, this time in Baltimore.

The duel will not bring anything new between the two teams. There is a lot of familiarity there and not much has changed in the last five weeks.

Just like we did before the Cleveland Browns matchup in Week 14, we’ll look at what the Ravens did well against the Steelers last time out.

It all starts for the Ravens on Saturday with MVP candidate Lamar Jackson. When he’s on his game, there’s really no one better in the NFL. He’s as dynamic a threat as there is. He has a rocket arm, can put the football pretty much anywhere he wants, and can use his legs to make big plays.

The problem is, when he plays against the Steelers, everything seemingly disappears. Pittsburgh is his kryptonite. It’s pretty strange. That was also the case in Week 11, when Jackson started fast but then tried to do too much, went into a skid and the Ravens couldn’t really recover.

So he has to focus on what works. That includes using his tight ends on play-action fakes in the passing game, attacking the middle of the field on break-in routes, and using his legs as runners, which he rarely did in Week 11, but when he did, he had great success.

Play-action in run situations when the Steelers are on their base staff will be crucial for the Ravens. Pittsburgh will place a lot of emphasis on stopping the run, particularly star running back Derrick Henry. That’s the Steelers’ weekly goal.

The Ravens know this, which is why they need to keep playing like they did at the start of Week 11.

You can see linebackers Elandon Roberts and Patrick Queen coming downhill and biting the fake toss to Henry. This allows tight end Isaiah Likely to sneak into space and steal a big gain from Jackson on the throw.

That was a lot of leeway outside of gameplay early in the game. However, the Ravens never really got back to it.

When they did that, they made sure to attack the in-breakers and exploit the middle of the field behind the linebackers and in front of the safeties, similar to what they did here on a 19-yard strike from Jackson to Rashod Bateman.

Late in the game, as the Ravens tried to get into position to tie the game, they returned to game action when Jackson hit Zay Flowers to tie the game.

The Ravens have had some success in this regard by allowing their receivers to attack in the middle of the field, with Jackson having the arm strength, accuracy and willingness to attack in that area of ​​the field, especially off play.

The Steelers really didn’t have an answer, and with safety DeShon Elliott in doubt for Saturday’s game and Minkah Fitzpatrick likely having to play near the line of scrimmage again, there’s an opportunity for Jackson and the Ravens to attack.

Jackson really needs to attack with his legs. Against the Steelers in Week 11, Jackson ran just four times. He gained 46 yards on those four runs. He had 40 yards on two of those runs and beat the Steelers with the read option.

Both of those Jackson runs came with Nick Herbig at outside linebacker where he attacked inside, giving the Ravens a soft attack advantage in the read option. The Ravens will need to have more of that on Saturday if they want to help Jackson solve the Steelers’ defense.

And of course, they can’t make the puzzling decision to keep Henry off the field for much of the fourth quarter, even if they’re in comeback mode. The game is getting close and they need to get Henry involved.

In the last game, Henry only had 13 carries for 65 yards and a touchdown. On one of those runs, he ripped off a 31-yarder on a zone run, found a gap and shot through it for the big gain.

But Henry didn’t touch the ball once in the fourth quarter and wasn’t on the court for the final 2-point conversion attempt. The Ravens tried to get too cute and it cost them. They got away from what was working early and let the Steelers drag them into the dirt.

This has worked for Pittsburgh in recent seasons, as it has won eight of its last night games against Baltimore.