Terrell Suggs, Elvis Dumervil Need to Star for Ravens to Upset Patriots

Much must be made of Joe Flacco's performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers this past weekend.

The Baltimore Ravens' starting quarterback was undoubtedly the star in his team's convincing victory over its AFC North rivals. Moving forward, however, Flacco's play won't matter if the Ravens can't contain Tom Brady and the New England Patriots' high-powered offense.

Because of their limited secondary and the construction of the Patriots offense, the two most important players for the Ravens will be Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil.

Suggs and Dumervil have both had very impressive, if different, seasons. Suggs has been a full-time starter who racked up 12 sacks and 61 tackles while being used in different ways. Dumervil has split time with Courtney Upshaw and has essentially become a situational pass-rusher.

Despite sacrificing snaps, Dumervil had 17 sacks during the regular season and two last week against the Steelers.

Facing Brady, interior pressure typically becomes more important than edge pressure. That is because Brady gets rid of the ball quickly and understands how to adjust to edge pressure, whereas it's much tougher for him to move away from interior pressure if lined up closer to him from the snap.

However, this season has shown that edge-rushers can disrupt Brady and that his offensive tackles haven't been consistently impressive. Starting left tackle Nate Solder has been a major problem at times, as he has struggled in one-on-one situations, while right tackle Sebastien Vollmer has been more consistent against lesser talents but has struggled with the best rushers he's faced.

Against the Steelers, the Ravens were able to simply rush four defenders after the quarterback and drop the rest of their defenders into soft coverage. That won't be as easy against the Patriots, who have a better rushing attack.

That shouldn't intimidate the Ravens defense, though.

Baltimore's defense is constructed similarly to the Kansas City Chiefs unit that decimated the Patriots offense in Week 4. Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton is a creative coach who used different looks and disguised rushes that weren't necessarily blitzes to create confusion for Brady.

While Sutton's game plan was impressive, he needed three key pieces in the defensive front to play well—three eerily similar to three of the Ravens' front seven.

Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston is a better player than Suggs these days, but that says more about Houston's rise than Suggs' decline. More significantly, Houston and Suggs are similar players in that they are both outside linebackers with the versatility to excel at the various tasks they are assigned with.

Kansas City outside linebacker Tamba Hali is significantly less versatile than either Suggs or Houston but possesses the same pass-rushing threat that Dumervil boasts. Both players explode off the line of scrimmage with relentless energy to penetrate the pocket.

A better nose tackle than Dontari Poe of Kansas City may not exist in the NFL. Poe's numbers might have been down a little this season, but he was still a key cog for the Chiefs defense throughout the year. Poe is a physical freak who can rush the passer and clog space against the run. His natural player comparison is Haloti Ngata, the Ravens' nose tackle.

Ngata and Poe are the kind of defensive linemen who allow defenses to play more linebackers against a team like the Patriots. It shouldn't come as a surprise if the Ravens primarily feature two-down defensive linemen against the Patriots, forcing them to try and run the ball on Ngata and Brandon Williams/Chris Canty.

That is exactly what the Chiefs did throughout their successful matchup with the Patriots.

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With all that athleticism on the field, it was easier for Sutton to attack Brady in the pocket from different areas of the field. As the above image shows, the Chiefs initially lined up with two defensive linemen, three linebackers and a safety in the box.

This means that Kansas City had six defensive backs on the field—five who were actually in the position of defensive backs and one who was lined up at inside linebacker.

Initially, Houston was left alone on the right side of the offense with no tight end or running back to his side. However, before the snap, Brady motioned Gronkowski across the formation to be directly in line with Houston. This completely changed the defensive call for the Chiefs.

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Because of the new offensive alignment, Houston was now in coverage against Gronkowski, and the safeties on the backside rotated at the snap. Sutton called a five-man blitz, but one of the blitzers was coming from the second level.

That second-level pass rush was the player who originally lined up as the deep safety, making for a delayed blitz.

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Hali beat Solder around the corner, so Brady had to get rid of the ball relatively quickly, even though the delayed blitz came too late. Houston was able to comfortably run with Gronkowski into the flat while the rest of the coverage worked together to crowd the field.

Brady threw the ball into the ground, as he forced it to a covered receiver on an out route.

Sutton's defense was able to be creative without being too aggressive on this play. Hali's pass-rushing ability, Poe's presence in the middle and Houston's versatility outside all played important roles in allowing this play to succeed.

The Patriots are an aggressively versatile offense. They actively search out for matchups that favor them whether in the running or passing game. Against lighter fronts, Brady will willingly check out of a passing play to a running play. Against heavier fronts, he will likely look to pass the ball.

In order to negate this type of offense, you need quality pieces in the defensive front who can erase the numbers advantage with their talent.

This versatility could force the Ravens to keep Upshaw on the field more than Dumervil, but it's not guaranteed because of the quality of Ngata, Suggs, Daryl Smith and C.J. Mosley. With enough talented pieces around him, the Ravens can afford to keep Dumervil on the field for his matchup advantage against either offensive tackle.

In that Chiefs game, Hali made one of the biggest plays of the game early in the third quarter because of his ability to expose Solder in space.

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The Chiefs showed off an aggressive front with three defensive linemen lined up directly over the Patriots' three interior offensive linemen. With Houston and Hali wide of both offensive tackles, the Patriots had to be wary of a five-man pass rush and keep each offensive lineman in one-on-one situations to release both the tight end and running back into routes.

Although Sutton didn't rush all five defenders at the line of scrimmage, he created the same effect with his play design.

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Hali got a great jump at the snap, moving before any other player on the field save for the center. This burst off the line put Solder in a bad position immediately. On the other side of the offensive line, Houston was again dropping into space with Gronkowski, but his presence prevented Vollmer from helping inside.

With the running back used in play action and Gronkowski releasing into his route, Hali was left alone in space against Solder.

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Hali initially worked down the field before squaring up to Solder when level with him. Solder reacted poorly. When Hali advanced toward Solder, the offensive tackle lost his balance and was drawn forward. This allowed Hali to move past his outside shoulder with ease.

Once past Solder, Hali was able to attack Brady during his throwing motion. The veteran outside linebacker knocked the ball free before recovering it himself in the flat.

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While the threat of the blitz was present before the snap, the Chiefs ultimately only rushed four players. Because of how many athletes they have on the field, they could drop everyone else and keep softer coverage on the back end.

Brady had an underneath option, but nothing down the field.

The Ravens showed comfort against the Patriots in previous playoff games. Much of that comfort comes from Flacco's composed play, but it's also a testament to their game-planning and quality in the defensive front.

Even though Ray Lewis is no longer available as a celebrated name, this may be the best front seven that the Ravens have brought to Foxborough in a very long time.

If John Harbaugh's team is to get the upset victory on the road, he will need his defensive front to play to its potential. That starts with Ngata in the middle, but maybe more importantly Suggs and Dumervil on the outside.