The Ravens offense will present a multitude of challenges for the Bucs defense. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken has the No. 1 offense in the league, averaging 453.7 yards per game, featuring the top running game (205.3 avg.) and the NFL’s seventh-best passing attack (248.3 avg.).

Stopping the run is the priority for Todd Bowles’ defense every week. So don’t be surprised if Bowles commits a lot of bodies at the line of scrimmage to help slow down Derrick Henry, the league’s leading rusher with 704 yards (5.9 avg.) and eight touchdowns, and quarterback Lamar Jackson, who has run for 403 yards and a pair of scores.

Tampa Bay’s defense did a good job of stopping Henry last year when he was with Tennessee in a 20-6 loss to the Bucs. Henry was held to just 24 yards on 11 carries and had one catch for minus-4 yards.

“We’ve got to stop him before he starts,” Bucs outside linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. “Hit him in the backfield. Hit him at the line of scrimmage before he gets going downhill.”

Bucs OLB YaYa Diaby and former Titans RB Derrick Henry – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Sure-tackling and gang-tackling will be the key to neutralizing the two-prong rushing attack of Henry and Jackson.

“We’ve got to tackle well,” Bucs defensive tackle Logan Hall said. “We’ve seen what can happen when we don’t.”

Hall was referencing the team’s two losses this year to Denver and Atlanta. In both games, Tampa Bay’s defense missed a bunch of tackles and allowed runs and catches to go for extra yardage.

“If you miss Lamar, he’ll make you pay,” said Tryon-Shoyinka, who recorded one of three sacks on Jackson during Tampa Bay’s 27-22 loss to Baltimore in 2022.

But the Ravens offense is more diversified in 2024, and Monken has more weapons to work with. If Tampa Bay gets too gung-ho in stopping the run, Jackson, who is completing 67% of his passes, has plenty of able targets to find downfield.

Stopping – or at least slowing down – the Baltimore run game is only one part of the Tampa Bay defense’s game plan. There are several other facets that must concern Bowles and the Bucs.

The Quandary Of The Bucs Playing Man vs. Zone

Todd Bowles may be tempted to play a fair amount of zone coverage for a multitude of reasons against the Ravens. First, playing man coverage means that most of the eyes of Tampa Bay’s back seven defenders will be on the Ravens players they are covering and not on the quarterback, who in this case, is one of the most lethal scramblers to ever play the game.

Ravens WR Zay Flowers – Photo by: USA Today

Man coverage will also put a couple of players in jeopardy. First, starting cornerback Jamel Dean is out, so Tyrek Funderburk, an undrafted free agent, will get his first start. The Ravens have two quality starters in Zay Flowers, the team’s primary receiver, and Rashod Bateman, who is finally starting to live up to his first-round draft billing.

Flowers is a dynamic, run-after-catch threat similar to Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown. He’s not as physical as St. Brown, but he’s more electric. Bateman is averaging 16.1 yards per catch and either receiver will give Funderburk problems. Bowles only has one Zyon McCollum to work with on Monday night.

Third receiver Nelson Agholor is a Tampa native and can’t be slept on, either. He’ll want to make a splash in his hometown on Monday night.

The other player who Bowles must be wary about in man coverage is inside linebacker K.J. Britt, who struggles in coverage. Britt is a downhill thumper in the run game, but up until this point, Bowles has yet to trust J.J. Russell enough on passing downs to platoon him with Britt the way he did with SirVocea Dennis at the start of this season and Devin White at the end of last year.

The Ravens have a trio of talented tight ends in the athletic Isaiah Likely, who leads the team with three touchdowns, and two big targets in Mark Andrews and Charlie Kolar. Any of those tight ends would create a mismatch in coverage versus Britt, in addition to pass-catching back Justice Hill, who is averaging 9.5 yards per catch and has 18 receptions on the year.

Don’t be surprised if the Bucs deploy a healthy amount of zone coverage against the Ravens for these reasons. And even inside linebacker Lavonte David doesn’t cover as well as he used to at age 34.

Ravens Use Of 12 Personnel Will Likely Keep Bucs From Deploying Dime Defense

Now that both safeties Antoine Winfield Jr. and Christian Izien are healthy, Todd Bowles could deploy a dime defense that would take inside linebacker K.J. Britt off the field on third-and-long or obvious passing situations and bring on another safety to defend the pass. The problem is that the Ravens deploy 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends) a bunch, so Bowles would have to pick and choose the times he wants to give up size on the field for speed.

Ravens TE Mark Andrews and former Bucs S Keanu Neal – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Tampa Bay’s secondary is very undersized. Winfield is 5-foot-9, 203 pounds and Izien, a backup safety, is 5-foot-10, 200 pounds. Strong safety Jordan Whitehead is 5-foot-10, 198 pounds, and rookie nickelback Tykee Smith is 5-foot-10, 202 pounds.

Despite his limitations in coverage, Britt is 6-foot, 235 pounds and can do a better job of taking on blocking tight ends and shedding them to make tackles in the run game than a player like Izien would. While receiving tight end Isaiah Likely is 6-foot-4, 247 pounds, Mark Andrews and Charlie Kolar, are 6-foot-5, 255 pounds and 6-foot-6, 267 pounds, respectively.

Getting smaller on defense by subbing in a safety for Britt could backfire if the Ravens elect to run out of 12 personnel rather than throw out of it. Throw in the fact that Baltimore has a massive, athletic fullback in Patrick Ricard, who is 6-foot-3, 300 pounds, and Bowles may be stuck with keeping Britt on the field for most of the game.

“He does all of the above [block, pass protect, run the ball, catch the ball],” Bowles said of Ricard this week. “At that size, he does all of the above. He can be an extra lineman, he can be an extra [running] back, he can be an extra tight end. He does a lot of things for them. [He is] a very valuable player for those guys.”

Rushing The Passer Is Just Different vs. Lamar Jackson

Not only has Lamar Jackson rushed for 403 yards and a pair of touchdowns this season, averaging 6.3 yards per carry, but the mobile quarterback has been incredibly elusive in the pocket as well. Jackson has only been sacked seven times in six games so far this season. He was sacked 16 times through the first six games a year ago.

Bucs DT Vita Vea and Ravens QB Lamar Jackson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Baltimore’s offensive line is playing better than it did a year ago and features second-round pick Roger Rosengarten at right tackle. Center Tyler Linderbaum is a Pro Bowler, and Ronnie Stanley has been one of the better left tackles in the game for quite a while. Right guard Daniel Faalele is a massive man at 6-foot-8, 380 pounds.

The key with the Bucs’ pass rush versus Jackson is that the outside linebackers must set the edge and work to contain him rather than come in screaming off the edge and trying to get a sack. A missed opportunity to get a sack can open up an escape route for Jackson to run through. Tampa Bay’s outside linebackers must rush the quarterback with equal parts speed and patience. Taking the right angle and breaking down to make a proper tackle rather than lunging – and ultimately missing – will be key.

Tampa Bay’s pass rush has to work collectively to collapse the pocket to ensure a quarterback takedown. The fact that the Bucs have gotten so much pressure inside from defensive tackles Logan Hall and Vita Vea, who lead the team with three sacks along with blitzing linebacker Lavonte David, really helps.

No quarterback likes pressure in his face. Not a pocket passer like Kirk Cousins or a mobile dual-threat QB like Jackson. All quarterbacks like to be able to step up into the pocket to throw the ball. That’s why the Bucs need to penetrate the line of scrimmage from the middle and make Jackson uncomfortable, and either sack him or flush him into the waiting arms of an outside linebacker.

Bucs CB Zyon McCollum – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Calijah Kancey and Will Gholston got their first sacks of the season last week in New Orleans and now the defensive tackle position has accounted for eight of the team’s 17 sacks this year. Vea had one of the Bucs’ sacks of Jackson when Tampa Bay lost to Baltimore back in 2022. With him nursing a sudden hamstring injury, Hall and Kancey will have to use their athleticism to really step up and rush the passer from the inside.

Bucs head coach and defensive play-caller Todd Bowles knows that his defense will have its hands full trying to stop or slow down the diverse Ravens offense that Todd offensive coordinator Monken has created.

“It’s versatile,” Bowles said. “[Monken] can do a lot of things. He can do a lot of things. He’s got Lamar, he’s got [Derrick] Henry, he’s got the [wide] receivers, he’s got the tight ends, and he has a huge offensive line. They can beat you in a multitude of ways. They can pound you, they can beat you with speed, they can beat you over the top, they can beat you with quick stuff, they can beat you with across the field stuff. He’s doing a heck of a job there. They’ve got a heck of a system.”