ExtremeRavens Posted Friday at 11:30 AM Posted Friday at 11:30 AM It was, in Zach Orr’s words, the most awkward landing he’d endured on a football field. Christmas night. Houston. A fourth-down stop near the goal line. Ar’Darius Washington. The collision. “I didn’t even know it honestly happened until after the game and my mom, she showed me,” the Ravens’ first-year defensive coordinator said of the celebration that went viral. “She was like, ‘Boy you crazy. Look what’s going on.’ I was like, ‘I was just so amped up.’ … I fell pretty hard so I was a little worried at first [for a] couple days like, ‘I hope I didn’t hurt anything too serious,’ but I’m good, though.” The same couldn’t quite be said about his level of comfort early in the season. In his first five weeks at the helm of a defensive unit that a year ago became the first in history to lead the league in sacks, takeaways and points allowed, four of the Ravens’ opponents scored 27, 26, 25 and 38 points, with that quartet averaging 366.8 yards per game. Baltimore was 3-2, its defense — particularly the secondary — was a sieve, former defensive coordinator Dean Pees was hired in a senior advisory role and the heat on Orr across the airwaves, on social media platforms and message boards was being cranked up. “I mean, it was tough,” Orr, 32, said. “My family, they see stuff and everything, so I’m not going sit here and act like I’m naive, or I don’t hear that stuff. My family the ones that really affected by it, but I tell them all the time, it’s nothing new. “Adversity’s always going to hit. … So, you’ve just got to block out the noise, whether it’s good, or whether it’s bad, and stay focused at the task at hand.” That task now will perhaps be his toughest, or at least most significant, to date. The Buffalo Bills, who the Ravens will face Sunday night in an AFC divisional-round tilt in Orchard Park, New York, have won 11 of their past 13 games — including victories over the top seeds from each conference, the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions — and were second in the NFL in points per game (30.9) during the regular season. But the Ravens’ defense has also been ascendant. After fielding one of the worst defenses through the first 10 games of the season, allowing the most passing yards per game in the NFL while ranking 27th in total yards and 26th in scoring, the turnaround over the past two-plus months has been dramatic. Over their final eight games of the regular season, the Ravens rose to first in the league in each category. Their play carried through to last weekend’s wild-card win over the Steelers, too. Against Pittsburgh, Baltimore surrendered just 59 yards and two first downs in the first half before rolling to a 28-14 victory. The reasons for the difference have been well-documented but bear some repeating. After a rocky start to the season, Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr helped build one of the league’s top units. (Sam Cohn/Staff) Orr simplified his scheme and substitution packages. There were lineup and roster changes, most notably the insertion of Washington for struggling veteran Marcus Williams, the deployment of All-Pro Kyle Hamilton at deep safety to communicate and cover up the back end and the benching of inside linebacker Trenton Simpson for a rotation of veterans Malik Harrison and Chris Board. There was a change in how meetings were conducted, and others, including outside linebackers Odafe Oweh and Kyle Van Noy, All-Pro inside linebacker Roquan Smith, Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey and rookie first-round draft pick Nate Wiggins, delivered strong seasons. “We’re a resilient group,” Smith said. “Been through it, hear this, hear that. But we always stuck together regardless of who’s with us and who’s not. [Orr] always reminded us of that.” Orr was the second-youngest defensive coordinator in the NFL when coach John Harbaugh quickly tabbed him within days last February as the successor to whiz-kid Mike Macdonald, now the coach of the Seattle Seahawks. A former linebacker for Baltimore whose playing career was cut short by a congenital neck and spine condition, Orr was viewed as energetic and detailed with a sharp football mind. Still, he was a surprise choice to some, at least outside the building. The critics also grew louder, particularly after Bengals All-Pro receiver Ja’Marr Chase ran unabated through Baltimore’s porous secondary in a pair of shootouts: First for 193 yards and two touchdowns on 10 catches in an early October game in Cincinnati, then a preposterous 264 yards and three scores on 11 catches in a Thursday night thriller a month later. Humphrey acknowledged that there were some “tough conversations” with teammates, but the takeaway was crystal clear: Players who weren’t performing weren’t going to play, and the aforementioned changes were made. How the group made improvements off the field changed as well. “Meetings are a lot more interactive,” veteran defensive end Brent Urban said. “Players are asking questions, coaches have been prodding players to participate more. It’s a lot more communicating going on and I think it’s translated to the field. “A lot of our issues were communication-wise. If you foster that environment in the meeting room, I think it’ll play itself out on the field.” It helped, too, that Orr, unlike his highly successful and respected predecessor, was a former player. That resonated. “When people are questioning you, you have a choice to stand up or cower and fold,” Oweh said. “We were obviously aware of what was going on outside and we were waiting to see how he would react because we’re impressionable players. We watched him and he stood 10 toes and he said we’re gonna get it right, we’re gonna be more disciplined and we’re gonna be more structured and he stood on that. “You know he’s not [lying to] you. He’s done it. When you have a coach who didn’t play telling you to do something you might be a little uneasy. … Someone like Z.O., he’s played it. He can call your bluff if you’re not trying to do it the right way. That’s something a lot of players know in the back of their head and do the job better.” As much as Orr shook things up, the one thing that didn’t change was the man himself. That didn’t go unnoticed by the players he was leading. “I’ve been around other coaches where things aren’t going as they planned and they’ll act different,” Urban said. “I think the message stayed the same. He found new ways of doing things for guys to better understand the defense. “It’s helped a ton.” Added Smith: “He’s a great leader, a fiery guy, gonna bring the juice day in and day out, gonna remain the same person. He gonna get on everyone, including the sit or start guys on the defense, just coach everyone the same, so you just respect that as a guy.” In other words, the confidence in Orr never wavered even as the defense wobbled. “You stick to your principles of what you’re trying to do,” Harbaugh said. “You try to solve the problems. “So you just try to do the best you can week to week [and] day to day and try to improve. And, you have a growth mindset towards all of these things and stick to your guns and not panic, don’t overreact [and] don’t bite — like what you were saying, [there’s] a lot of talk that was coming from the outside — don’t really bite on that; stay confident, believe in one another and try to do the best you can. And that’s what everybody does.” Yet some of the same problems from early in the year have continued to percolate, even if only occasionally. In the Steelers game, Pittsburgh receiver Van Jefferson, now on his third team in five years, inexplicably raced by maligned cornerback Brandon Stephens for an easy 30-yard touchdown on a pass from Russell Wilson. George Pickens burned trade deadline addition Tre’Davious White for a 36-yard score. Now comes NFL Most Valuable Player candidate Josh Allen, who threw for 3,731 yards and 28 touchdowns while rushing for 12 more scores in the regular season. In Baltimore’s 35-10 blowout of Buffalo in Week 4 this season, the Ravens trampled over the Bills with 274 rushing yards and hounded Allen, who threw for just 180 yards, was sacked three times and lost a key fumble. But that might as well have been a different season. Buffalo finished second in the league defense-adjusted value over average (DVOA) — right behind Baltimore — and in addition boasts an offense that includes a strong running game led by James Cook, who was ninth in the league in yards per game (131.2), 11th in yards per carry (4.5) and tied for first in rushing touchdowns (16). Their offensive line is also the best in the AFC and one of the top units in the entire league, having surrendered the fourth-fewest pressures, per Pro Football Focus, with Allen getting sacked just 14 times. Against a strong Denver Broncos defense in last weekend’s wild-card round, Allen had his way, completing 20 of 26 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns, while Cook added 120 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries as the Bills outgained the Broncos 471 to 224 in total yards in a 31-7 blowout. What does Orr expect Sunday? “People call me biased; I feel like we have the most physical team in the league, that’s offense and defense,” he said. “You got no choice but to be physical and be ready, so our guys welcome that challenge. We love it. I love it. They bring out X personnel, hey, basically saying they trying to come bloody your nose.” Now all that’s left to see is whether the Ravens, along with their defensive coordinator, can handle the punch. Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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