Limiting Rob Gronkowski key for Ravens defense

When the Baltimore Ravens travel to New England to face the Patriots, they will come up against one of, if not the best tight end in football. Rob Gronkowski has lead the Patriots in receiving yards (1124), yards per reception (13.7) and receiving touchdowns (12). When given the time and space to work, Gronkowski is as good as they come.

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In their week 16 match up against the Jets, New England line up Gronkowski outside as a receiver. They love to move him around the formation, lining him up outside, in the slot or as a traditional in-line tight end. But here they have him outside running a simple slant route. The Jets treat him as a receiver, using a corner to play off-man coverage.

But with a free release off the line of scrimmage, Gronkowski can work easily into his route and find an open space for quarterback Tom Brady to throw him the ball.

That’s how the Patriots love to use Gronkowski. Get the ball in his hands quickly and then let him go to work. At 6’6”, 265 pounds, Gronkowski uses his size to help him pick up chunks of yards after the catch. Here, he manages to turn up the field and run over the corner covering him to pick up 10 yards on the play.

If the Ravens allow Gronkowski time and space to work, then he will tear the defense apart and the Patriots will move the ball and score points. But the Jets did show that you can limit Gronkowski’s effectiveness. When they played physical with Gronkowski, jamming him at the line of scrimmage and not allowing him a free release, they were able to have some success.

This time, the Patriots use Gronkowski as an in-line tight end. He runs a simple stick route.

But the Jets linebacker doesn’t allow Gronkowski to freely run his route. He initiates contact within five yards of the line of scrimmage.

That contact from the linebacker jams Gronkowski and throws off the timing of the route.

Brady has to wait an extra second to throw the ball, allowing the linebacker to undercut the pass and nearly intercept it. By having to wait an extra second, Brady also takes a big hit from an oncoming defensive lineman.

When the Jets began to play physical with Gronkowski, he started to get frustrated. The very next play, you could see that frustration boil over.

This time Gronkowski lines up as stand-up tight end. He runs a hook route over the middle.

Gronkowski spots the defender coming up to jam him, so he goes after him. He gets past the five yards allowed for contact and shoves the defender backwards before breaking inside.

Gronkowski then proceeds to push another defender in the back to knock him over and create space. His frustration got the better of him and he drew an offensive pass interference penalty.

By playing physical, the Jets limited Gronkowski to six catches for just 31 yards. At 5.2 yards per catch, that was by far his least effective performance of the season. But can and will the Ravens be able to replicate the physicality that the Jets defense displayed?

When Baltimore matched up against a similarly formidable tight end in Jimmy Graham, they showed they can be just as physical, if not more so, than the Jets were against Gronkowski.

Very early on in the game, the Ravens made a statement to Graham and the Saints. They came to be physical and weren’t going to make it easy for them. This was one of the Saints first passing plays. Graham runs a simple underneath crossing route. Safety Will Hill, who had a man coverage assignment against Graham for most of the game, lines up across from Graham on the line of scrimmage.

But it wasn’t Hill who jammed Graham at the line. Linebacker Terrell Suggs surprised Graham off the snap by getting right into his chest and knocking him back.

But the physicality didn’t stop there. As Graham crossed the middle of the field, linebacker Daryl Smith stepped up and laid a hit on Graham to further knock him off his route.

In the end, quarterback Drew Brees went elsewhere with the football. But that set the tone for the game. Baltimore were going to finds ways of impacting Graham’s routes and weren’t going to allow him a free release.

This time Hill lines up in off-coverage from Graham.

But that doesn’t mean they were going to allow Graham a free release. C.J. Mosley made sure to make contact on Graham before working towards his coverage assignment.

Even Courtney Upshaw got in on the act of jamming Graham.

Here the Saints try to get Graham running up the seam. The Ravens are in a zone coverage, so don’t have Hill lined up over Graham this time.

But they have Upshaw stay inside to get his hand on Graham and disrupt his route before breaking to the flat for his own coverage assignment.

To try and get Graham away from the linebackers, they spread him out wide and attempted to hid him in stack sets.

Graham starts outside, closely followed by Hill.

But the Saints motion Graham into a stack set, forcing Hill to play off the line of scrimmage.

But Hill sets himself at the limit of the allowed distance of contact and waits for Graham to close the gap. Hill explodes into Graham, keeping his pad level low and getting his hands inside. That knocks Graham back and off his route.

Graham was held to a similar stat-line that the Jets held Gronkowski to; six receptions for 47 yards. If Baltimore can play in a similarly aggressive fashion against Gronkowski and limit his effectiveness, then they will be in a good position to come away from New England with a positive result.