The Baltimore Ravens in the 2024 regular season were a team that protected the football at a high rate. The team had the third-fewest turnovers in the league with 11, behind only the Bills and Chargers. Then the postseason hit, and the Ravens turned into a different team. They turned the ball over three times in their divisional round matchup with the Bills.
Entering the 2025 season, the Ravens are trying to remedy this issue. ESPN’s Dan Graziano, in his August 4 article covering various training camps around the league, highlighted an interesting new method the Ravens are using to help solve their playoff turnover issues.
Ravens head John Harbaugh and his staff have taken to showing practice highlights on large screens all around the facility. Where in past seasons, “SportsCenter” may have been shown on the TV’s, it’s been replaced by practice tape.
Playoff Turnover Issues
The Ravens’ Achilles heel, despite sustained success over the last five years, has been turnovers in the playoffs. According to Ravens’ team website writer Ryan Mink in a January 24 mailbag article, this issue has been persistent for the entirety of Lamar Jackson’s tenure with the Ravens.
“Since the Lamar Jackson era began in 2018, the Ravens have 16 turnovers in nine playoff games,” Mink wrote. Jackson played in eight of those games and threw seven interceptions and lost four fumbles. It’s quite clear that turnovers have been a major reason why the Ravens haven’t gotten over the hump and into the Super Bowl.”
The most frustrating part for the Ravens is that they have been one of the most turnover-averse teams in the regular season over the past five seasons. According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, “Over the past five years, the Ravens have turned the ball over 95 times in 84 games, the fourth-lowest total in the league.”
Their turnover margin over the last five seasons for the Ravens goes from plus-15 in the regular season, which is seventh in the NFL, and to minus-8 in the postseason, which is the worst in the league. Head coach John Harbaugh knows that to win a Super Bowl, the team must improve in this area, and he’s taking the steps to do just that.
“Tackling,” “Pursuit,” “Ball Assault,” & “Convoy”
ESPN’s Dan Graziano, in his article, discussed how the Ravens’ practice tape is split into specific categories and displayed around the facility. Those categories are: “Tackling,” “Pursuit,” “Ball Assault,” and “Convoy.”
“Harbaugh and his coaches pick out specific highlights from each day’s practice and cut them up to fit into different categories, such as ‘Tackling,’ ‘Pursuit,’ ‘Ball Assault’ and ‘Convoy,’ Graziano said. “ They grade each player in each practice in each category and designate the day’s “winner” in each. So if a player is stopping by the cafeteria to grab a bottle of Gatorade on his way to a meeting, he could look up and see his or one of his teammates’ highlights from the previous day’s practice presented as an example of what coaches are looking for.”
Each category has a specific meaning, and there’s math involved in figuring out the grading. Harbaugh explained to Graziano the specifics of each category.
“These are ball assaults now,” he said of one highlight in particular (which was labeled “Ball Assault”). “This is the defense attacking the ball in practice. Now this is Convoy. Convoy is basically the offensive version of running to the ball. Chasing the pile, getting out in front, getting a block in front of somebody. Then there’s Pursuit for the defense, the defensive version of the same thing. Puncture, which is catch and get upfield.”
The Ravens hope that focusing their full efforts towards turnovers can change their potential playoff fortunes this season.
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