NFL Beast

The Best Damn NFL News Site Ever!


How the Ravens defense shut down Tom Brady on money downs

2 min read
   

#NFLBeast #NFL #NFLTwitter #NFLUpdate #NFLNews #NFLBlogs

#Baltimore #Ravens #BaltimoreRavens #AFC

By: Spencer Schultz

Steve Herschel, Getty Images

The Ravens turned in a consistently adept performance especially in high leverage downs.

The Baltimore Ravens held Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to 4 -or-13 on third down in their 27-22 win last Thursday. Baltimore hasn’t allowed an opponent to convert 50% of their third downs into first downs since their fourth quarter meltdown in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins. Despite losing big ticket free agent Marcus Williams for several months to a dislocated wrist, safety is still a major strong suit for Baltimore.

Third year safety Geno Stone made one of the plays of the game, when Baltimore baited Brady into throwing hot after seeing Kyle Hamilton tip a blitz on third and four. Brady checked into a quick hitch against off coverage. Stone triggered before any of it happened and disrupted the ball, getting the Ravens off the field.

Rookie safety Kyle Hamilton has routinely thwarted tight ends in man coverage from slot alignments. Hamilton perfectly uses his prodigious size and wingspan to engulf tight ends at the stem, where he’s just as physical and more of a fluid mover than they are. Hamilton had several plays on the ball including a late pass breakup at the goal line against rookie tight end Cade Otton.

Here’s a full breakdown of those plays as well as how the Ravens pass rush spooked Tom Brady into missing some potential explosive plays.

Originally posted on Baltimore Beatdown – All Posts