@@JoshClaw93 I would argue on a pure talent level we aren't that far off outside of the linebackers. secondary's aren't that far off talent wise and edge. Their interior line is better and we could improve there as well but as a whole we aren't that far off and have potential.
@@aaronhamilton7300 I don't think Wagner or Brooks are the ideal coverage linebackers to make MacDonald's scheme easy for the underneath or to run against a TE in the deep middle. That said the Bears undervalued Roquan, flipped him for 2nd and 5th and the Ravens paid him to be the centerpiece of the back 7. So maybe Carroll/Schneider scours the league and get/train one. Secondary wise the Seahawks have similar versatility but could get try get that athlete like Hamilton who i think adds such an X-factor. D-Line wise IMO the Ravens I think are far better. Quality 3-tech DTs take time to learn the position and the rise of Madabuike along with DTs of the 2019/2020 show it. Michael Pierce is also a good 3-down veteran NT.
@@JoshClaw93what ppl like u dont realize is he brought the best out of his players. The ravens didnt even pick up his 5th yr option and in this last season he balled out. Geno stone, 7 ints, who even was that guy prior to the season started. Roquon was brought to a WHOLE OTHER LEVEL this season compared to when he was on the bears. Hamilton made a huge jump right to become a 1st team ap. Clowney, 1st round pick who has jumped from team to team just had his best season of his career. Madubuike had an all pro year after a pretty mid 3 years during his rookie contract. Van noy all of a sudden is incredibly relevant again and played great. Safe to say macdonald coaches to his players strength and brings out what they do best
Baltimore’s defense over the years has impressed me more than any defense other than the 13 seahawks and the 15 broncos. they might not get talked abt how they are an all time great unit like their 2000 counterpart but Baltimore has a legit and legendary defense this year. the scheme and the players fit perfectly and it’s honestly beautiful to watch especially this postseason
Lmao this the most fanboy off base no substance comment. Like just nah. You not watching enough games and you not watching close enough. I can’t tell you what impresses YOU so I can’t say you’re wrong but you not right lol
Mike McDonald is a true football savant because the level of offensive understanding needed to exploit offenses to this degree is crazy. Definitely head coach material.
As a texans fan i saw this team twice. In a demolition in week 1 and another demolition of my team in the divisional round. What sets this defense apart from the other 31 defenses is just how hard they hit and how physical they are. They are entirely at another level. Extremely impressive unit
You're one of the best scouts I've ever found on the internet, I love the way you present the information in a really easy to understand formula. One thing a lot of scouts don't end up doing is explaining how to counter what a team likes to do, so I think that's something you should look to explore to really elevate the information you get on film. Maybe on the Patreon.
excellent video! i love solid defense and you've done such an amazing job of highlighting the Ravens arsenal of talent as well as showing how well these players are coached!
Excellent, top to bottom as usual. Just what I've come to expect from this channel. Could've spent an entire video on that first play with Burrow. I've broken it down elsewhere so good see someone else get some eyes on it. The craziest part of that play is the offensive architecture was set up very well to beat Cover-3, yet the Ravens still almost get a pick out of it anyway. They're running that first "slant" from the TE Sample basically as a decoy into the Hook defender's space, to occupy him and pull him across the middle of the field as he passes it off to the other Hook defender. Then they run Boyd in from the slot on another slant into the vacated area for what should've been an easy 3rd-down conversion. The only problem is Williams is too smart, not getting fooled by the TE's route, keeping his eyes on Burrow and drifting back towards Boyd to rob that slant in behind him and almost makes an insane IQ INT. There was another one maybe a drive later where Hamilton nearly got a pick in a similar situation. Option routes are tough for defenses to deal with because the offense can do whatever hurts the defense most in the given situation. And for that same reason these match principle defenses are really tough on offenses because with smart defenders it lets the defense adjust to almost anything the offense does on the fly. That's why you see a lot of big play breakdowns from defenses (Bills, Bengals coming to mind) because you get some "less than intelligent" defenders who make mistakes in these chemistry/read-based match defenses, and nobody's home to fix their mistake. Baltimore doesn't make many of those big mistakes. As mentioned they tackle well in space especially in the Flat. Good team speed especially at the LB positions allows their underneath defenders to cover more ground. It also doesn't help that they have arguably the best MLB in the game in Roquan. But it also can't be understated what the addition of Hamilton has meant to this defense with his high IQ and ability to be a swiss army knife.
I am a Chiefs fan and I am about as excited as the matchup between our offense and their defense as I would be if I had to go get a colonoscopy. Without Joe Thuney and a legit receiving threat outside of Kelce and Rice, it's hard to see how we are going to handle them. The ONLY way I can see us having success is if Isiah Pacheco can run the ball and one our other receivers (Watson, MVS, Hardmann or Gray) can have an unexpected big game.
Appreciate the great breakdown of Mike's defensive play calling put into perspective! Good work TF, subscribed! That Raven's D is scary good! I can't wait to see how he implements the Seahawks D with the players we will have. Spoon is going to have a heyday! I know most of us Seahawks fans are not too happy with Jamal Adams right now but if he can stay healthy and get his mind right I really feel he is someone that Coach Mac can bring the best out of! I don't expect greatness right out the gate but if we can get a good OC to work some magic on offensive play calls I really feel that the Seahawks are going to come back to that legendary form they once were! Coming through like a Mac truck, watch out NFCW! Go Hawks!
Great breakdown as always, I feel when you have both a ferocious DL and versatility at LB/S it really opens up the possibilities for defensive playcalling
Once again, an eye-opener. Thanks for dissecting the incredible versatility of Ravens defense, but also for bringing to light the unreal moves (or is it their reading ability?) of individual players like Hamilton or Pierce. We only see the tackles, but never appreciate where those players strat from, or what they have to go through to actually make the tackle. Thank you again.
Lamar will get all the hype if they win (deservedly). People will say the defense is good, but they don't realize how good. They've been historically great. MacDonald should've been ahead of Jim Harbaugh IMO for the Chargers job, he was the one that turned that defense around at UM.
I love that this years defense is getting the ultimate test in going up against Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, I wouldn't have it any other way. This game is going to be epic I can feel it.
I'm for one am glad Coach went thru there 2:47 and gutted everything out. Gone basketball hoop. Gone Champ pics on the wall. Gone I'm In sign they tap on the way to the field, etc. Coach is about us right here right now n what we gon do, our team, our family, our legacy, our future. The pass is gone n we're done trying to live up to it, trying to repeat it. Listening to his player, they're so excited about his plans, his messaging, n where he wants to take the Seahawks. Hang on 12's cause shits about to sooooar like a Seahawk.
Daaaaammmmmnnnnn😅😅😅😂😂😂🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 l can't wait I can't wait I can't wait. Seahawks have been so vanilla, so predictable, so ole school under Pete for so long. I'm super excited to see the Seahawks move into this next era. I've been begging for it. Finally it's here. Thanks for sharing this video. I'm a super pumped 12th
Thanks. Very informative. One thought: To my eye Macdonald's schemes are more dynamic and aren't as obvious as Martindale's. It also seems to me that Macdonald is better able to utilize the personnel on hand, not leaving guys alone on an island if they can't handle it. It seemed to me that Martindale shoehorned his schemes regardless of the personnel. Roman was similar. The main differences this year are: Monken, Zay, OBJ, the emergence of Likely with Andrews out, and Agholor. (The addition of Cook seems to have been the exact right move at the exact right time. Also, adding Van Noy and Clowney left very few holes anywhere in the D.) The Ravens are simply the best team with the best QB in football. Go Ravens.
I love how it's still the same system wink ran, just more match based and getting pressure with 4 and simulated pressures. Cover 2 out of nickel, Hamilton will play the middle 3rd from the slot instead of the mlb. That blitz where he drops the NT and DE is so well timed. I think it has a 100% success rate this year. Aaron Donald getting All Pro over BK is criminal. 13 sacks from the inside. Almost 20% of the team total.
The Ravens' defense from 2023 was incredible. They shut down KC in the 2nd half of the AFCCG, but bc the offense couldn't get it together, it'll all just be forgotten
Whether or not the 'look ahead' is useful: it depends, how much you touch on upcoming stuff already. This has varied from vid to vid a bit, but generally I like it!
Did a lil more digging and MacDonald's scheme is essentially a modern execution on Dean Pees/Rex Ryan's 3-4. He's been part of the Ravens staff for most of his time that he's been schooled on the design. Though his eye for well placed adjustments is a talent he'll most definitely need as HC. Two defensive positions him and the Seahawks FO have to invest to help the defense overall are safeties and NT. Jarran Reed did alright but the Seahawks need more athleticism/versatility in the trenches. Pete wished Jamal Adams was that safety like how Kyle Hamilton was for the Ravens. Within 2 seasons I think the Seahawks move on from their old safeties and hopefully something promising like the Ravens were looking to bring out in 2023 pre-season. But yeah here is hoping that by 2024 preseason the Seahawks back-7 is looking different from previous years.
When Clowney was with Seattle I kept saying - he played like he was on fire, why doesn't he get home? Under Coach Mike - he got HOME! This is what Hawks fans have been hoping for, as great as Pete was...
Baltimores interior D line is always overshadowed by the LBs and Hamilton but man these guys are the foundation of the defense they get so much pressure on the QB that it forces them to make bad decisions and get the ball out quick hope we can resign Madubuike in the offseason
They easily look like the strongest team even before the playoffs, and only reinforced that in their showing so far. There are no guarantees (SF might have been in the SB last year w/o Purdy injury for example, and I doubt the Ravens would be the same w/o Jackson), but they deserve to be healthy favorites.
And us Chiefs fans have to hear this every year from a different teams fans. CIN, BUF, and now BAL. Yet every year the Chiefs are at least in the AFCCG. When will y’all learn??
I swear these fans need to lay off Jamal, think of him in the Kyle Hamilton role blowing up runs from the linebacker position sending him on corner blitz’s he’s going to be insane in the Mike McDefense
I think the Chiefs game will be their biggest test of the season. the 49ers are stacked on offense, and Purdy is good, but hes not elite. The Ravens defense perfectly designed to punish teams that don't have elite QB play. All those weapons on offense can't really do much if Purdy isn't able to get the ball to them. The Ravens defense relies on getting fast, effective, pressure on the QB, while slowing down their ability to make the proper read by disguising coverages and blitzes both pre-and post-snap. It basically requires elite QB play and those intangibles in order to have any chance of getting consistent successful completions. Purdy isn't at the level where he can pull that off. But if there's anyone who can, it's playoff Pat Mahomes. I want the Ravens to win, but I really think this game will be their biggest test on both sides of the ball and especially on defense. If they can shut down the run and keep Mahomes from extending plays, they should be able to win. Of course, that's way easier said than done. I think its gonna just come down to talent vs talent and who can make less mistakes. Regardless of all that, I still think it will be the biggest test for the Ravens, and whoever wins the game will likely win the Superbowl.
Kyle Hamilton was graded a 90 for his coverage. Please can we Mike Macdonald get Jamal Adams to somewhat near that level (if he isn't cut.) Tired of having Adams get gashed in coverage.
As a chiefs fan, anything is possible with Mahomes but it ain’t looking good for us haha Hopefully our defense can contain the run game because If not it’s gonna be over fast
Without Nnadi good luck. Ik there's this hype about Willie Gay being "fast enough to stop Lamar" but he isn't. Lamar made Fred Warner look like a fool in the open field. Chiefs need to score. And get ahead fast. I have Ravens 30 Chiefs 27
