Takeaways from the Ravens’ press conference include injury updates, pass defense notes and cornerback usage of Brandon Stephens and Tre’Davious White.
Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh spoke at his weekly Monday press conference and here are a my takeaways from the presser.
No Update on Kyle Hamilton
Ravens star safety Kyle Hamilton suffered an ankle injury on Thursday against the Cincinnati Bengals and while early reports are good news that he won’t be out for the season, it’s unclear as to he’ll be back in the near future.
In the spirit of not giving away any competitive advantage to the Ravens’ opponents, Harbaugh did not share much of an update on Hamilton.
“He’s been here all weekend getting treatment and stuff like that,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll see how he looks on Wednesday and going forward.”
Ravens Pass Defense and Allowing Explosive Plays From Ja’Marr Chase
Not sure you’ve heard, but the Ravens’ pass defense is struggling.
The latest to victimize the Ravens’ secondary was Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who in two games this season went for 457 yards and five touchdowns, with three of those touchdowns coming on plays of 67 or more yards. Harbaugh talked about what they’re doing — or not doing — that’s allowing these big plays.
“It really comes down to how we’re playing. It comes down to us,” Harbaugh said. “We have to play our coverages better in those situations.”
Harbaugh and the coaching staff know this is the issue. They’re not blind to it and they’re scouring everything they can to solve what the issue(s) are.
“Deep part of the field, especially the deep middle and the intermediate middle part of the field are the areas that have been our problem for us,” Harbaugh said. “Just very inconsistent back there in that sense. That’s probably the one major thing if I was to put a priority thing on it. Obviously, everybody would probably agree with that. That’s the number one target that we have to get better at is that aspect of our pass coverage. We worked at it through the weekend and continue to work at it and everybody’s determined to get better and we have a growth mindset to get better at everything, but that one area has to get better.”
It’s been an issue all season and one potential reason comes from how practice isn’t translating to the field. Last week, cornerback Marlon Humphrey said what they’re doing in practice is good and they’re playing the right way, but in the games players aren’t doing what they’ve been working on and it’s hurting them. Harbaugh has seen what Humphrey’s talking about on the game film.
“I’ve seen that happen. It’s not across the board, we’ve had really good practices, especially the last couple weeks in terms of coverage but it hasn’t translated to the field consistently,” Harbaugh said. “You can’t have those long touchdown passes. I mean it’s one thing to give up nine-yard completions, seven-yard completions on low routes and go tackle them. It’s another to even hit a sail route or a breaking route and tackle it. But to not tackle it or to let it get behind us, those are things that are just below the line. Those are not okay. Not that you don’t get beat every now and them, teams get beat here and there but it’s just happening way too much with us right now.”
What can speak to this is how Chase scored his second long touchdown, a 70-yard reception, to tie the game after the Ravens took the lead after a seven-play drive, only to be tied again 13 seconds later.
“Yeah, just the technique’s were played wrong. They weren’t played the way they were designed to be played,” Harbaugh said. “Whether it was something that wasn’t seen the right way or it was misunderstood, we’ll look at it from a coaching standpoint of we didn’t coach it well enough. We have to coach it better. Make sure they understand it more clearly. That same route’s been covered before. That wasn’t the first time it’s been run against us. Again, we have to be consistent with it. We have to be on point every single play. We have to have a clear understanding of what we’re doing and we have to be urgent about it.”
Tre’Davious White Usage
With the trade now confirmed for Tre’Davious White, Harbaugh shared how the new cornerback addition will be used.
“We expect him to get in there and start taking snaps in the rotation at corner,” Harbaugh said. “That’s why we traded for him, so we’re looking forward to him and we’re excited.”
When asked where White will play on defense, he said he’ll be rotating at outside cornerback where he’s played the majority of his career.
By my estimation, he’ll be rotating with Brandon Stephens while Humphrey remains their No. 1 cornerback on the opposite side. But, I’d also expect White to be on the field for Humphrey at times to give arguably their best defender rest.
Brandon Stephens won’t be playing safety
With Stephens struggling this season and the Ravens’ safety unit all playing poorly outside of Hamilton — and to some degree Ar’Darius Washington — fans are curious if they’ll move Stephens to play safety as a way to get more out of Stephens and lower Marcus Williams’ involvement as he’s graded as the worst safety in the NFL this season. That won’t be coming any time soon, Harbaugh said.
“No, that’s not really on the table right now,” Harbaugh said. “He’s got a big job right now he’s trying to take care of.”