Strength in Numbers: Actionable Stats from the Divisional Round

We’re going to get a lot of stuff wrong, but sifting through usage metrics can help us work through what matters and what doesn’t. That’s the goal of this article: to break down the most actionable takeaways from each week in a concise, numbers-filled format and work through what’s important. From now on, we’ll only focus on teams still alive in the playoffs. Let’s get right to it.

Odell Beckham runs just eight routes in Baltimore’s first playoff game

Beckham is 31 years old with an injury history on a dominant team. That’s the type of player it might make sense to limit during the regular season and unleash in the playoffs, especially considering OBJ leads all Ravens pass catchers in yards per route run at 2.05. He came on strong from a target share perspective with three games of at least 21.2% over the second half of the season.

However, Baltimore went the opposite direction and leaned even harder into Rashod Bateman (21 routes on 29 Lamar Jackson dropbacks) and Nelson Agholor (18), while Beckham went out for a pass on just 27.6% of Jackson’s dropbacks. Besides Zay Flowers, this feels like a WR rotation that could turn on its head any given week, but the Ravens’ first playoff game was discouraging for those hoping the former stud receiver could turn back the clock, much like he did two years ago with the Rams.

Further clouding the Baltimore passing game is the expected return of Mark Andrews, who appeared surprisingly questionable entering last week but ended up taking one more week off. Andrews is a far better target earner (0.23 targets per route run) than Isaiah Likely (0.15), but it seems unlikely (pun intended) that he immediately steps back into an every-snap role. We’ll be monitoring the injury report throughout the week to gauge how much he’ll play, but we probably won’t get a real answer there.

Gus Edwards leaves early with hand injury but is reportedly okay; Justice Hill’s role improves in first postseason game