ExtremeRavens Posted Wednesday at 11:39 PM Posted Wednesday at 11:39 PM “The standard,” cornerback Marlon Humphrey started to say, as he crunched the water bottle between his palms. It’s something the longest tenured Ravens defenders believes has slipped since stepping into a leadership role. And it’s something — as Humphrey waxed at the twilight of last season and again after Wednesday’s mandatory minicamp practice — he wants to be responsible for helping recover. When Humphrey was drafted by the Ravens in 2017, there was an heir of reverence about the organization’s defense. He sat in meeting rooms with famed linebacker Terrell Suggs and learned what it meant to play that side of the ball in Baltimore. The ultimate history lesson came over the past few months when Humphrey dove into the team’s archival film. “I was unaware of how elite that 2000 Ravens defense was,” he said, referencing what many consider among the greatest defenses in NFL history. “When I first came to the Ravens it was all about the Ravens defense,” Humphrey said. “I’ve kinda let that standard slip.” Even in the late 2010s, well after Hall of Famers Ray Lewis and Ed Reed retired, Humphrey said the “Raven flu was a real thing.” Faux hamstring injuries would pop up the week a team had to travel to Baltimore. Folklore or not, teams, in Humphrey’s estimation, feared throwing a screen pass knowing four defensive linemen would retrace and swarm the ball behind the line of scrimmage. “There was a fear when you stepped on the field,” Humphrey said. “That standard, we’re chasing to get it back. It’s an urgency to get it back.” For the first 10 weeks of last season, Baltimore’s defense ranked among the worst in the league. There was a years-long reputation set by their predecessors — even through 2023 when Baltimore became the first triple-crown defense in league history, leading in points allowed, sacks and takeaways — that last year’s group was falling short of. Its nadir was a narrow win over a division rival in primetime having allowed 421 passing yards and five touchdowns to Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow. In the locker room that Thursday night in November, Humphrey spoke for two minutes straight about the state of the defense. It ushered in a week of introspective conversation about how the group had lost their way. There was a legitimate and well-documented turnaround through the rest of the regular season, bleeding into the playoffs. All was not forgiven. Baltimore’s playoff loss in Buffalo underscored the problem at hand, the standard they lost. This offseason, going on Year 9, was Humphrey’s first spent living in the Baltimore area. Most of his teammates fled the area, as is normal. A few stuck around. Humphrey was at the team’s facility in Owings Mills sitting around a table with coaches trying to solve the mystery of where they went wrong. “On the inside, it felt like we were preparing the way we should,” Humphrey said. “It really seemed like everything was kind of where you wanted it. The answer never truly came. But, I do know the very simple answer, the one that did come.” Buffalo forced three turnovers in the divisional round. Baltimore forced zero. During the regular season, the Ravens defense forced at least one turnover in all but three games. They managed a pair of takeaways thrice, totaling 17 on the year. Come playoff time, they came up empty versus Pittsburgh and at Buffalo. Ravens inside linebacker Roquan Smith, shown at minicamp Tuesday, never lacks energy, his teammates say. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey says Smith's intensity has been matched by teammates this offseason. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) “That’s the one thing that’s pretty evident,” Humphrey said. “It doesn’t matter how good you play defensively, if you can’t get the football, you’re not playing good enough. That’s the biggest thing to harp on. Like I said, that’s gotta be our identity.” “The [other] team is coming in trying to whoop our butt,” Zach Orr said last week. His biggest lesson in Year 1 as a defensive coordinator was to not let his players rest on their laurels. “We talked about it today. We’re going to be a little anal about it, and that’s good.” Some of that manifested in voluntary practices and mandatory minicamp. Safety Kyle Hamilton said there were scrimmages it felt like they were playing 12 on 11. Humphrey noticed a bit more juice from guys not named Roquan Smith, who in many ways embodies the standard they speak about. OTAs, in Humphrey’s estimation, “was a good glimpse of what we’re preaching.” Humphrey gave Lamar Jackson his flowers as a two-time Most Valuable Player and one of the best quarterbacks in the league. But he still wants the Ravens to be known for their defense the way Baltimore teams were in the early 2000s. It’s been a hindrance in every Ravens playoff loss of the Jackson era. Since Jackson took over at quarterback in 2018, Baltimore has played in eight playoff games. The defense has forced two turnovers in that span. To address the lack of postseason turnovers, Ravens defensive brass implemented a new, “very detailed” grading system. It’s plastered on video boards all around defensive meeting rooms. “Literally everything that you can possibly grade is graded,” Humphrey said. “I think that’s crucial to get that standard back. That’s all I’m thinking about as I go on this break.” Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn. 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