ExtremeRavens Posted January 3 Posted January 3 For the second straight year, the Ravens are among the best pass rushing teams in the NFL. That’s no accident. “I gotta give a lot of credit to Coach [John] Harbaugh, man,” pass rush coach Chuck Smith told The Baltimore Sun. “He is the most open-minded NFL coach about pass rush, I believe, in NFL history. To let a pass rush trainer come in and Harbaugh say, ‘I believe in what you’re doing.’ He let us do moves and teach concepts that no one else has ever done and trusts us.” Smith parlayed his own decorated nine-year NFL career into becoming one of football’s preeminent pass rush trainers. He mapped out his own training program, taught several All-Pros and has consulted for several teams. The gravitas accumulated on that front earned him a fitting nickname: “Dr. Rush.” And in 2023, the Ravens brought Smith into the building for a job that was once considered taboo among NFL teams, who preferred their pass rush intel come via training camp consultants. Consider this return on investment: Only three seasons in Ravens history have they finished with 50 or more sacks. The first was 2006, and the other two have been Smith’s two years at the helm. Last year, they tallied a league-high 60 sacks. This year, they’re second in the NFL with 52 (spread over 18 players) — and one more game Saturday against the lowly Cleveland Browns could inflate that total. “This is the perfect place if a guy wants to pass rush, there’s no other way to say it,” Smith said. “And I’m not just saying that.” Smith leaned back against a wall inside the Owings Mills facility earlier this week. His eyes tensed for a moment behind frameless glasses trying to explain how the Ravens zagged when most of the league was still zigging. Harbaugh empowered him to teach moves and concepts that Smith said aren’t done elsewhere. And the second-year coach has created what he believes can be sustained success. It’s a young group of almost entirely homegrown talent in those meeting rooms. Outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy, at 33, is the wily veteran. He’s the only one with enough experience to answer why Baltimore and Smith are so different. “A lot more freedom,” Van Noy said, with a game left to add to his career-high 11 1/2 sacks. “Like in New England, I was not allowed to do what I’m doing, that’s for sure. Not that it was bad, it was just different. It was sacrifice to do whatever you can to keep the quarterback in the pocket. The schematics were different.” Take, for example, Van Noy’s 2018 season as a Patriot. He started all 16 games but finished with only 3 1/2 sacks in a year New England won the Super Bowl behind a masterful defensive showing under coach Bill Belichick. Smith prefers Van Noy use his skill set to put hands on the quarterback. Ravens outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy, middle, has set career highs in sacks in his two seasons in Baltimore after getting “a lot more freedom” to rush the passer. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) Outside linebacker Odafe Oweh is one sack from his first double-digit season. It’s a career year whether he gets it or not. And although the 2021 first-round draft pick hasn’t played for any other NFL team, his understanding of the uniqueness in Baltimore is the deep arsenal of pass rush moves Smith teaches and the intentionality with which they prepare for different quarterbacks. It’s resulted in career numbers for Van Noy, Oweh and Tavius Robinson (3 1/2), among other contributors. Should Oweh get his 10th sack Saturday, it would be the fourth time in Ravens history — and first since 2014 with Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil — that two players reached double-digit sack totals. “Ain’t nobody talking pass rush like we are,” Smith said. Much of the group doing the dirty work has ties to Smith dating before he was hired in Baltimore. Smith helped Brent Urban prepare for the NFL scouting combine in 2014. He trained Nnamdi Madubuike in Atlanta before his breakout 13-sack 2023 season. He spent time working out Michael Pierce, had plans to get in a gym with Oweh before he got hurt, and coached Robinson at the 2023 Senior Bowl. “We’re all connected,” Smith said, later adding, “here, it’s a partnership, not a dictatorship.” That was a nod to defensive line coach Dennis Johnson, as well as assistant defensive line and outside linebackers coach Matt Robinson. Those three are a joint force whose teachings extend beyond the final game of the season. NFL rules bar Smith from training with his group out of season. No shortage of trainers around the country could help prepare them for the rigors of a season with high expectations. “But hell, they hired my assistant,” Smith said. “[Dez Walker] teaches the same system. So in the summer, they’re doing the exact same thing.” That, coupled with the room’s culture Smith touts, is why he believes this top-of-the-league success isn’t a fluke. Or a two-year outlier. “Here’s the crazy part about this whole story,” Smith said. “I really believe where we are, as one of the top pass rush groups in the league the last couple years, it just makes me laugh a little inside. Like, ‘Dude, we’re just gonna be even better.’ … It just makes me excited looking at our pass rush culture that we have here. So when we bring a guy in, we rolling.” This season has been a testament to that assertion. Baltimore lost Jadeveon Clowney and his 9 1/2 sacks from last year to free agency. Van Noy wasn’t expected to outperform his then-career-high nine sacks at 33 years old. There were questions about what Oweh or Ojabo could contribute after inconsistent beginnings to their careers. And few could have anticipated Tavius Robinson to take such a leap. “It’s even better when everyone was kind of [complaining] about [us not] having a pass rush here,” Van Noy said. “That hasn’t gone unnoticed. That was a big topic for the last two years. Who’s gonna be the pass rush? Blah blah blah. It’s been one of our strengths.” Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn. View the full article Quote
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