ZACH ORR'S DEFENSE GETS IN FRONT - RAVENS MINI-CAMP ANALYSIS, DAY 1 #ravens #ravensflock

this video is going to be a commentary about some of the reports articles or short videos that are out there about day one of ravens mandatory Min Camp obviously the title and the tone of it are are an exaggeration I'm sure that the play or the format I should say was tilted in the defense's favor at times uh from most of the reports particularly those of Jeff zbec hopefully I pronounce his name correctly because I feel like he does a wonderful job very professional and balanced but from his reports and others it sounds like Zack or GR um held the day but before we get to that I'm not sure about you I definitely had a couple of hours of some consternation anxiety maybe fear when seeing the report that Kyle Hamilton was not practicing even saw a picture on social media of him in street clothes and that he had not participated in any of the mini camps so far that were obviously voluntary before today for for the incredible impact the widespread impact that he has all over the field we were very fortunate last year as Ravens fans to get out of that knee injury situation relatively harmless he was hurt for the second half or in the second half of the Rams game I believe week 14 then he went out and played 100% of the snaps against the Jags and had a ridiculous pass defense in that game before two interception game against the 49ers in week 16 in this case appears as if he'll be out for two to three weeks after elbow surgery so there'll be lots of opportun unities this week the next two days for Arthur Mallette who apparently played amazing today I think he had a force fumble fumble recovered and an interception on the day TJ Tampa ardarius Washington and others to all match up possibly at that nickel position and then boost their status with the coaching staff sounds like a lot of the DBS played really well reports reports are that Brandon Stevens also had a pick six ran Smith had an interception I guess Stevens pick six had a a tip on it was on a ball in for Derrick Henry that apparently was tipped tough go for the offense but look they're they're not in pads they're in shells offensive linemen are in shorts in fact so there's situations where the defense knows its pass we hear about interceptions or touchdowns and various results of plays and it's often reported as 11 on 11 first of all I reject that a little bit because it's like seven on seven doesn't count 7 on seven you can actually get a lot of things accomplished in terms of teaching instruction implementation and installation but the truth is even in certain 111 drills when you're in shells the o line and the D line has a barrier they have a ceiling they know the deal nobody should be trying to be a Monday hero in June in my opinion I get it you do have some guys fighting for a potential roster spot others even trying to get just a practice squad offer but they're but they the coaches are not and should not match up unknown guys who might be unpredictable with our starters meaning someone who's going to go crazy and get their hands on the quarterback in an 11on 11 obvious passing drill doesn't belong out there with the starters probably doesn't belong on the field on the NFL field anyway my point is there is a ceiling and it it is a feel that certain guys have to have for where they should hold up and where they should continue to show effort and they're looking for execution the coaches are looking for are you up front particularly are you getting in the right spot where you're supposed to be run plays are not going to be a big Focus think of the stadium practice if you will I think that's the level of effort that we're talking about so it's not surprising that the defense would seem to win most of the day it's a known pass play situation I'm not trying to Discount what Arthur Mallette or others did first of all it's good to know that Humphrey stevens or Darius Washington Marcus Williams were out there all healthy even though Hamilton won't be for this week and for the next two or three there's clearly enough depth to execute whatever Zack or wants the guys to go out there and do and they responded today and I'm also not making excuses for Todd monin because I've been incredibly hard on him particularly after the Chiefs game and in other situations in 2023 not making excuses for Lamar or anyone else on the offense it's a but it's a fact if you've got experience in football you know the defense often has the advantage early on in Camp particularly when so many guys are returning to a defense that was that good like the 202 23 Ravens defense was ran got an interception like I said there's times in Camp where you know as a defense you know the formation and the play maybe you don't know it but you got a 50-50 shot because you know what they're working on you know what they're practicing and you in fact hear the offensive coordinator position coaches coaching their guys after the play you know that if they make a mistake on slant fade for example then they're going to come back to it if they've explained it and spent time you understand that there is a script but often times they'll deviate from it to try to reintegrate or revisit excuse me another concept and try to see if a player can fix it I do expect a rebound day Tuesday or Wednesday as things go for the offense things that basically maybe they've tried and failed or tried and succeeded with to be then used as a setup for something else Tuesday or Wednesday it is good to hear I don't know about you that what what you read or what you read that tyon Wallace had a touchdown in a two-minute drill situation the offense obviously won with a touchdown there it sounds like the defense was flying around and at heart I'm a defensive guy so so I'm glad I do know that there's just too much pride and Talent on the on the Ravens offense for there not to be some swing back in the other direction and soon I do want to point out the defense is often given favorable information from the coaches by Design in fact the the two-minute drill or one minute drill for example example it tells the defense what's coming also you in those situations even though you say well coach well how how come they can't stop every one minute drill during the game well you can't play manfree against Lamar consistently and not get destroyed by a scramble you can do that in situations like today you can Rush four let the mic kind of roam a little bit leave the area hashto has open and Lamar in most situations if someone's not open is going to be able to escape a four-man rush and get a tremendous amount of look at the third and long late in the second quarter against the 49ers where he basically broke their team with I think a 31 or 32 yard scramble my point is the defense is given the benefit of doubt in many of these situations when you're in shells in June mind you there's certain coverages you can play that you would not be able to against Lamar for obvious reasons though also I think my focus personally is on the drills I think they mean more how you do things on both sides what pace you set not just the pace during the drills but between drills and how the practice es and flows in terms of the intensity and I want to talk about that a little bit because I I saw a couple of reactions on social media from people that maybe just don't have experience with the game and understand that a practice can't be all high-intensity drills nor should a practice be all low intensity drills there needs to be an an EB and flow to the practice that is intentional that is scripted and designed so such that a high intensity drill where players are maybe Pursuit drill running as fast as they can for 8 to 10 seconds maybe finishing with some explosive manner or fumble recovery whatever and then hustling 30 yards to get into the end zone followed by a lower intensity drill that's maybe skill based doesn't require as much movement meaning you're not sprinting for seven to nine seconds at a time for each rep you are standing still some St some stationary um technique that or or overall stunt part of a stunt Blitz or coverage that you'll have to execute but you don't have to move full speed so when I see pictures or a quick video clip of a drill from M Ravens mini camp obviously from today and a player only gives like two to three seconds of exertion I assumed that the previous drill period was something that was more taxing I would I would caution you against assuming that all drills are that level of intensity saw a couple of reps of Calvin noi and some other outside linebackers working together and some of the comments were well those guys don't look like they're working really hard well they do more than dress that drill and in fact the design of practices at least in my experience even the ones that I have just gone and observed at the college level is such that that they're scripted in a manner to allow the athletes to adjust and think about a football game you play defense or five six seven eight plays at a time and then you go off on the sideline that's your EB and Flow that's your low intensity you're now on the sideline and you're processing things with your teammates or your coaches or you're making adjustments there's some mental focus that is there but you're not physically being exerted on the sideline that's the point of the drills being alternated um in my opinion or at least how it's been explained to me it's smart from the coaches and the players you try to train the eyes the hands the rest of the body and on the skills but then also the body on how to acclimate to giving maximum effort for 5 to 7 seconds or 5 to 8 seconds whatever the average football play is now and then 20 to 25 or 30 seconds of rest in between before you have to do that all over again it's what makes football as a sport so vastly different and the and the training for it just has to match up there's Baseline strength cardio and explosiveness all of that has to come in bursts however so I was never there obviously but I I'd never judge a short clip of a drill the way that I I saw others react today which I didn't I actually almost typed a reply and I didn't want to because U some people just don't have knowledge of it's all part of the practice plan for the day so a particular rep might be focused on steps it might be focused on hand placement it might be focused on the angle of your lower body as your upper body stays Square depending on the key that you're responding to I'm talking about like a defensive end and like a six technique or seven technique um it might sometimes look like they're going 70 to 80% speed because they're trying to control those other things first it's actually a fun time to work on skills as a coach skills skills and and development really uh one major point I do want to make as you see some of the pictures scrolling here it's clear from one of the pictures to me that Lamar was under Center uh we we do this every year at least I do um how much will the Ravens be under Center next season should the Ravens use the stretch boot concept more often I do one of those videos every season and I've used some of those titles exact titles or ones very similar um in the last two or three years so forgive me I won't do that again I guess or if I do I'll show a lot of Derrick Henry film it's also possible I guess they were in the pistol so feel free you know from the angle for me it looks like they were under Center and I might be wrong it only makes sense however for the Ravens to be under Center more I will do an NBA comparison Derrick Henry's like an NBA player if you ask me that's got a great postup game he either scores gets fouled or sets someone else up off of a converging double team when he posts up I'm talking about that picture right there that's flowing through now the under Center Run game in the in the complimentary play action passes my comparison for the fouls would be this Henry might get stopped for a three yard gain or maybe even a two- yard gain but it gets the defense moving it plants the seeds to the complimentary plays that are called later on if you've installed them last year I thought that we were uh more simplistic early on under Center and somewhat predictable over the course of the season I thought we progressed and became less predictable to to take one step further with the NBA comparison if you have a great postup player he comes to your team and all you do is run the pick and roll with him and you never take advantage of that dominant skill he has that he's put out on film for years I think you're leaving some ammunition unfired I think you're leaving some things out there on the table that could make the offense even more explosive even even more in control of the flow of the game of course the Ravens are going to be under centore in 2024 they have Derrick Henry they better be and I do think Lamar can play Under Center they might not do a tra a lot of traditional five-step drop or three-step drop from under center with Lamar because he hasn't done those things for those things they'll probably be in the pistol and again I think the early offense may be limited from under Center it was in 2023 but they did expand on it as the season moved on using Henry to control parts of the game in a way that he is ultimately extremely comfortable the under Center Run game control just parts of a possession it's just smart it's a smart way to utilize his talent and open up space for other people one other element and this will be the last point that I make first of all forgive me for a video that doesn't show any film the second one in a row but there I I can't show film we don't have it number one number two all I can do is talk about the reports that other people put out because I'm I'm not available to go there I don't have that type of access obviously the under Center plays the timing is different the timing is vastly different when the quarterback has his back to the defense there was a segment on ESPN a couple of years ago I think it was Mina kimes hopefully I'm saying her name correctly um a couple of other well-known commentators and they were talking about the elongation of the conflict for the defense and that Dynamic I think is worth mentioning because so many so much of the timing of the Ravens plays last year in the shotgun or pistol was quick I probably just need to get a stopwatch and do the timing so I can explain it better but the timing being different provides a different level of conflict for the defense think the like you have a fast ball a slider and a change up as opposed to a pitcher who only throws a fast ball and a slider the timing is generally the same or close enough to it the dynamic this is like a dynamic if you ask me that the football world is kind of forgetting and some ways it reminds me of like things that have been built in ancient cultures that had such strong foundations that they lasted thousands of years the pyramids would be one example when societies thereafter tried to recreate them build similar structures and they crumbled within a couple hundred years I guess you call it forgotten knowledge I think that you're forcing defenses to have a little bit longer Conflict by being under Center should we do that 70% of the time no that's not what I'm saying I think we should do it about double what we did in 2023 we forc those Defenders on the backside to we Force Defenders to take another step or half step towards Henry's flow and then the backside D end has to make a decision now I know that there's people that say oh he's never going to play it in a realistic fashion the backside the end he's always just going to run at Lamar for fear of the boot cool and the downhow cutback is there for the running back number one and number two we can use split Zone Concepts to just abuse that approach I think the Ravens offense has capability to run three different offenses to go with my NBA analogy a postup focus Henry and the ensuing play action plays off it the pick and roll that everybody uses and that would be the generic 11 personnel spread plays that we run that everyone else does too and then the third element or or Focus I guess could be the the various hybrid Personnel groups and schemes some of which are vastly different but I'm clumping them or lumping them together to say that they could be a part of a third Focus for the Ravens that's 12 21 or 22 Personnel of course the first one 12 as likely and Andrews on the field the second to 21 and 22 would be rard constantly playing a shell game with the defense at least for today Zack or's group on defense was able to play with confidence and win the hand I don't know about you but uh for whatever reason the this mandatory mini camp excites me because of Zack or's installation schedule and how it's going today obviously went extremely great I'm interested in when or if the rebound is going to come this week for the offense up so I'm looking forward to hearing what comes out Tuesday it's for me it's kind of hard to believe that this time of year is upon us already I'm really looking forward to August and um and training camp but this is kind of a fun time any anyway as an aside if you want to use the Lamar and Henry pick that you see there on your phone I've made that available in a shared Google Drive for either a iPhone or an Android I think there's like three different file versions in there so feel free to um download that if you wish appreciate you guys time if you think other Ravens fans would enjoy this obvious commentary look at the Raven's first day of mandatory mini camp and please consider grabbing a link to this video sharing it out on social media to help this content get more reach if you'd like to see a specific film study video for the Ravens or later this week please let me know in the comment section appreciate you guys time