Buffalo Bills: Top 3 takeaways from Divisional Round win over Ravens

Zone coverage

The NFL cannot stop Lamar Jackson, they can only hope to contain him is something that has been true since his MVP season. Ducking tackles, slipping sacks and generating something from nothing has made Lamar one of the toughest quarterbacks to play against. Saturday night in primetime, Leslie Fraizer dialed up the best defense of the season which played a critical role in the team’s win.

During the opening drive of the game, the Ravens seemed to get first down after first down on the ground. Knowing that Buffalo’s ability to stop the run this season has been sub-par, Baltimore’s decision to try and exploit that weakness was textbook. Running zone-reads with Lamar dives with J.K. Dobbins and company, Baltimore seemed to be getting the exact output that they wanted with their game plan.

The Buffalo Bills on the other hand looked to be scrambling to set up for what was sure to be a rushing play. Though this did not last long after a handful of drives, Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier began to understand that Baltimore was not planning on passing the ball; he adjusted and called more zone.

With the implementation of zone coverage, the Bills secondary could allow Ravens receivers to roll through their respective zones all while keeping an eye on Lamar. After he was unable to find his first read, Lamar often attempted to escape the pocket; often met by Tremain Edmunds who had been spying Jackson the entire play.

Fraizer’s ability to understand that Baltimore was going to target their weakest area of the defense and somehow get his unit to play the best they have this season deserves a tremendous amount of credit.