Inside Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday, the Ravens did not take much time to jump all over the Colts in Week 1 of the regular season. The Colts appeared far less prepared than the Ravens were for the opening week and the disparity was glaring in the first half of the ball game. The Ravens jumped out to a 31-13 lead at halftime (Multiple Colts turnovers in their own territory helped) and never looked back on the way to Jesse Minter’s first victory as Head Coach. In this segment we will look at what the Ravens did to get their victory last week and how the Saints can take advantage of what is seen on film to bounce back from their week 1 matchup against the Lions, or what some are calling, the “Best Loss in the NFL”.

From what is shown in the film, the Ravens coaching staff has a high level of awareness as they clearly knew the Colts would be worried about stopping Derrick Henry (spoiler alert – they didn’t) and took full advantage in the first few drives of the game. Lamar Jackson immediately began attacking the Colts defense with play action to take advantage of the focus on Henry with a 49 yard connection to Zay Flowers on a play action boot variation. Throughout the first half this was a common theme (pictured above) as the Ravens would come out with hard play action fakes to begin drives and find creative ways to get Flowers open to gash the defense, then let Henry and Jackson use their running ability inside the redzone. The Ravens utilized Flowers exceptionally well to create multiple explosive plays in the first half which the Saints must not allow to happen. The boot action by Jackson later in the game was used near perfectly to freeze defenders that should have been worried about run fits once Henry got going.

Flowers has yet to practice this week due to a hamstring injury and this might benefit the Saints tremendously as it was clear that their passing game ran through Zay Flowers. The gameplan in week 1 featured numerous ways the Ravens lined up Flowers to intentionally get him into favorable matchups, the example pictured above led to a 54 yard touchdown as Flowers used that advantage against a Colts linebacker to decisively win an angle or Texas route and utilize good downfield blocking to finish the play in the endzone. If Flowers does not play, the Ravens offense will certainly be missing their biggest weapon from week 1 as Flowers finished with 5 receptions for 150 yards, a touchdown, and the greatest amount of separation created by a player in the NFL for week 1 (pictured below).

After a first drive TD and an immediate turnover by Daniel Jones near the Colts own 30 yardline, the floodgates opened. The Ravens kept utilizing the play action pass but the Derrick Henry effect began to weigh on the Colts defense. Though Henry was more of a second option for the Baltimore attack, the Ravens used creative play design combined with motion and the threat of Jackson booting. Seen below is a good example of this as the Ravens used the wham play (tight end or fullback wham blocks defensive tackle) to spring Henry loose for his 32 yard touchdown that put the Ravens up 28-6 in the second quarter. This is quintessential Ravens football as they were able to bleed clock and play solid defense for the rest of the game. As long as the Saints can stay home and have a solid plan for boot action, I am confident this group can muddy the waters enough in the front 7 to not let Henry win this game on his own.

The Ravens defense took full advantage of the Colts week 1 rust as they intercepted Daniel Jones and stripped Jonathan Taylor on a screen play. Throughout the film it was clear their defense is going to use multiple looks to try and confuse opposing quarterbacks by mixing in zone pressures and man coverage. The Saints must improve their protection issues seen in Detroit to take advantage of the holes in the field that are opened up by an attacking style defense like this. The benefit the Saints have is that the Ravens defensive line was not very impressive versus the Colts and unlike Aidan Hutchinson (who popped up all over the tape), Trey Hendrickson (Ravens top pass rusher) had a very quiet outing, recording just one tackle and no sacks. The Saints must take care of the football if they plan on winning this game.