Three-time Super Bowl champion Devin McCourty, now an analyst for NBC’s “Football Night in America,” was in the studio with fellow analyst Jason Garrett recently talking about the wild-card game between the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans.
The Browns lost to the Texans, 45-14. Cleveland’s highly-rated defense was responsible for 31 of Houston’s points, and two third-quarter pick-sixes ensured that the Browns would be sent to an early postseason exit. Cleveland did not score any second-half points.
McCourty was frustrated watching the game because he believed the Browns weren’t adjusting to what the Texans’ offense was throwing at them throughout the contest.
“I was like, ‘It’s crazy to me as a player that you don’t draw up something new,'” McCourty said on Glenn Clark Radio Jan. 24. “Coach Garrett had a great point. He was like, ‘It’s not about doing something new.’ When you’re a coach, you should have a long list of different things that you do as a defense from the beginning of the season all the way throughout. You have a plan going into the game of, ‘These are the things that I think will work.'”
With that in mind, McCourty is impressed by Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald’s ability to adjust during a game and put his players in the best possible positions to succeed. The Ravens finished the regular season first in scoring defense (16.5 points per game), sixth in total defense (301.4 yards) and first in defensive DVOA.
The Ravens put together one of their best defensive performances of the season in the divisional round, against the same Texans squad the Browns struggled to slow down the week before. The Ravens held the Texans to 213 total yards on 47 plays. They did not face a single red-zone snap. They held Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate C.J. Stroud to 5.3 yards per attempt.
All in all, the Ravens’ defense was only responsible for three Texans points. Baltimore got better as the game went along, allowing just 58 second-half yards. In fact, the Ravens have allowed just 27 second-half points in their last 12 games.
“I think what Baltimore does a good job of is even if it’s working, it might not be working at the level they want it to work,” McCourty said. “They have no problem saying, ‘All right, we’ve been sending secondary pressures, either from the edge or up the middle. Now we’re not really liking that. Let’s go back to sending pressure with our linebackers or let’s go to a five-man down front or let’s go to a four-man rush front.’ They have no problem doing that. If we’re playing a ton of man, they don’t mind saying, ‘All right, let’s switch up and let’s play zone.'”
McCourty, a defensive back for the New England Patriots from 2010-2022, likes how Macdonald uses his players in a variety of ways. He rattled off the defensive backs Macdonald uses as chess pieces, including cornerbacks Ronald Darby, Marlon Humphrey and Arthur Maulet and safeties Kyle Hamilton, Geno Stone and Marcus Williams.
McCourty especially likes how Macdonald has schemed up ways for defensive tackle Justin Madubuike to get to the quarterback. The fourth-year man out of Texas A&M had 13 sacks this season and was credited with seven pressures in the divisional round.
“I think [Macdonald has] done a really awesome job of saying, ‘I have all these players. My No. 1 job is to make sure they’re prepared and ready to go no matter who it is. My job is to put them in different spots in this scheme to be effective,'” McCourty said. “I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve seen Madubuike be unstoppable this year, because he’s using him in a way that is unique to him — not just any other defensive tackle, but using him in a way that he can be effective.”
All year, Macdonald has been lauded for his creative pressure packages and coverage looks. His defense now gets the ultimate test against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game. It wasn’t a typical regular season for the Chiefs — they finished ninth in total offense, 15th in scoring offense and eighth in offensive DVOA — but they’ve looked like the Chiefs in the playoffs.
Most recently, the Chiefs totaled 361 yards on 47 plays — an average of 7.7 yards per play — in Buffalo en route to the AFC championship game. This will mark the first matchup between Mahomes and Macdonald, and McCourty says it’ll be critical for all levels of the defense to complement one another.
“I think Baltimore has to do a good job of when they pressure or they get to Mahomes, the coverage has to be tight,” McCourty said. “And if the pressure isn’t there right away, the coverage should be accordingly off knowing that the passes will go further down the field. I think that relationship has to be on point when you play against the great quarterbacks.”
For more from McCourty, listen to the full interview here:
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