How Will the Commanders Handle the Ravens’ “4 Bigs”

ESPN

Mina Kimes: “The thing that jumps out to me about the Ravens against the Commanders defense — what the Ravens are doing with their heavy personnel groupings right now when they put multiple tight ends [and] backs on the field, I just don’t know how the Commanders handle that. The Commanders vs. 12 personnel, they almost exclusively play nickel, 99% of the time. If you play the Ravens in Nickel, in 12, they are happy to run that ball down your throat. In fact, in 12 personnel, they are averaging 6.0 yards per carry and .24 EPA per play. I love their 12 personnel groupings so much because this year and last year they’re an even run/pass split and they’re constantly putting defenses in compromised positions.

Washington almost exclusively matches 12 personnel with nickel. That could be a problem against Baltimore, who have been fantastic running the ball out of their two tight end sets.

Previewed Week 6 with @TampaBayTre:

: https://t.co/lOszPjfOsP

: https://t.co/zX8V45z7xT pic.twitter.com/7iGW0V7E8y

— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) October 10, 2024

Dan Orlovsky: “You know the Ravens offense has like ‘four bigs,’ when it comes to Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, Charlie Kolar and Patrick Ricard. And I think the challenge is, ‘How do you treat those guys?’

How the Commanders handle the @Ravens “4 bigs#nfllive pic.twitter.com/AFzBGFXm2z

— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) October 10, 2024

AFC North Whiparound: Are Browns, Bengals done? What’s each team’s main weakness?

Jeff Zrebiec, The Athletic

The temperature is dropping across AFC North country. What’s the temperature of the seat for the head coach you cover? With election season coming, what’s his approval rating with his fan base?

I always try and remind myself that X responders and sports talk radio callers are typically the loud minority, but there has clearly been a shift the past few seasons with a small (but growing) portion of the Ravens fan base ready for the post-John Harbaugh era. It’s been mostly inspired by a few of the team’s playoff no-shows (like January’s AFC Championship Game) and the disturbing trend of late-game meltdowns. Each loss — or even close win — seems to bring a wave of fan questions about whether Harbaugh’s on the hot seat. Here’s the thing: The only person who can put Harbaugh on the hot seat is owner Steve Bisciotti, who has a close relationship with his highly successful head coach. Bisciotti puts a ton of value on maintaining a strong culture and fielding a team that’s in the playoff mix every year and is ready to play every Sunday. Harbaugh gets high marks in all of those areas. The Ravens have plenty of work to do over the next couple of months, and it probably would take either this regular season going sideways or another underachieving postseason for there to be legitimate questions about Harbaugh’s future in Baltimore.