ExtremeRavens Posted December 10 Posted December 10 The meeting lasted about 90 minutes on a Tuesday in November. It included the entire Ravens defense. Walking out, Ar’Darius Washington felt a renewed sense of energy wash over the team. A turning point, perhaps? “Excuse my language,” the safety said, “but it was really like, ‘[Forget] everybody. [Forget] everything else that’s going around. Let’s play together as one.’ That was the main focus, for sure.” Until that point, Baltimore’s defense had sunk to the bottom of the league. They were 32nd in pass defense and the bottom 10 in points allowed per game. They were a maddening partner to the league’s most prolific offense. The catalyst for the meeting was a narrow “Thursday Night Football” win over the Cincinnati Bengals, having given up 470 total yards and five touchdowns. Defensive coordinator Zach Orr didn’t sleep much. He was back at the Owings Mills facility early the following morning. Four days later was the open-forum meeting that, should the Ravens defense finish the year on a high note and prove this statistical turnaround isn’t a fluke, could come to define their season. There were a lot of hard truths shared between those four walls, linebacker Malik Harrison remembers. Guys were more willing to take accountability and hold others to the standard. Linebacker Tavius Robinson said energy and accountability were the two main themes. Such meetings are commonplace but this one came with a greater sense of urgency. “We had to do some deep soul-searching,” Orr said. “And it was a long meeting.” “I think it was good — from a player and coach standpoint — that we expressed what we wanted to get done; they expressed how they felt, and we were able to come together and figure out solutions, because that’s all we’re about,” Orr continued. “Everything that we do is trying to come to that solution, [and] I definitely think that meeting had a part in it.” For one, Orr changed the parameters of how his defense congregates. Where they used to focus their time trickling down film study and dialogue to positional groups, now everything has become group-oriented. One or two guys being out of position on a given play can snowball the entire defense. Linebacker Roquan Smith has talked about that frustrating trait this season. Defensive end Brent Urban doubled down, saying one guy taking a risk to make a play can put someone else’s job in jeopardy. Each frustrating Sunday cast more doubt on the group’s ability to turn things around. They often cited communication impeding execution. Hence, more panoptic film study. “The meetings were kind of changed in a way that we’re going through every single detail. It’s not like we’re passing things off to individual position meetings. We’re all gonna focus on what each guy needs to do,” Urban said, noting that’s not common to this degree in the NFL. “And that’s kind of brought about a bigger amount of accountability, too, just in terms of, we’re all there hearing what each other’s job is supposed to be. Because a lot of times it’s set up, we’re all in our individual position groups and that type of thing. [Orr] has done a good job of bringing us all together. I think that’s made things more cohesive.” Orr took some onus, too. “It’s not just them,” he said. The first-year defensive play-caller asked what he could do better or if there was anything he could cut out to help solve why what they were doing in practice wasn’t translating into games. Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr, right, asked his players for constructive criticism soon after a win over the Bengals in early November. The unit’s turnaround since has been stark. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Over their first 10 games, the Ravens allowed an average of 25.3 points and 367.9 yards per game. Weeks 5 through 10, Baltimore’s strongest defensive performance was holding the Washington Commanders to 305 yards. Over those six weeks, the defense’s best day, in terms of total yards, was still worse than any game since the meeting that Harrison described as ushering in a “dramatic change.” The corner-turning stretch included three games giving up 21.7 points and 280 yards allowed per game. And of the 23 passing touchdowns scored against the Ravens defense, 22 of them happened before the meeting. Humphrey, Smith and Kyle Van Noy were some of the vocal leaders mentioned. “I think for certain guys, that hits home more,” Urban said, as it’s a different voice from the coaches they hear harp on issues every day. “Marlon, he was the one who said the energy thing,” Robinson said. “It was big for him, just playing with that energy. … When your boy makes a play run in there and hype him up. We all just feed off each other. I think it just makes us closer and makes us play with that swagger.” Humphrey picked off Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson in the back of the end zone days later. There was a little extra juice in his step as he got up. Robinson remembers everyone on the defense coming over to share in the elation. They’re chasing more moments like that, he said. That’s part of the Ravens’ defensive standard, which Humphrey admitted after the Bengals loss he felt like they lost. “Something has got to change,” he said on Nov. 7. Baltimore has four more games on its regular-season schedule before the scintillating lights of playoff football. Two of which will be against top-12 scoring offenses. It remains to be seen whether 90 minutes on a Tuesday in November truly rewrites the Ravens’ season. But walking out of that room, something felt different. “For me,” Washington said, “I’m thinking like, ‘Damn, I need to do better. Imma go out there and let it out for these guys ’cause they’re gonna do the same thing for me.’ After that meeting, I’m like I’m gonna do whatever I can for the rest of the 10 guys knowing they’re gonna do the same thing.” Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn. Week 15 Ravens at Giants Sunday, 1 p.m. TV: CBS Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM Line: Ravens by 14 1/2 View the full article Quote
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