ExtremeRavens Posted 6 hours ago Posted 6 hours ago The longest-tenured Ravens defender sat at his locker Wednesday engulfed by cameras and recorders. On the heels of a head-scratching collapse in Buffalo, Marlon Humphrey, calmly, gave his two cents about what went wrong. “We’re just not mature enough as a team yet,” Humphrey said, those words landing with a thud. He went on to say: “It’s very clear we’ve got great players on both sides of the ball but defensively we have to work on our maturity. It doesn’t matter what our offense is doing. We have to go out there and win the game.” The ninth-year cornerback remembered looking up at the scoreboard with the Ravens clutching a 15-point lead over the Bills. There were about five minutes remaining. He turned to Roquan Smith, linebacker and fellow defensive leader, to say, “Hey, let’s go win this game.” What unfolded over those final minutes has dominated NFL discourse this week. Josh Allen converted a fourth down into a miraculous touchdown, Baltimore’s unstoppable offense went stale and Allen’s Most-Valuable-Player-caliber heroics piloted Buffalo to a season-opening 41-40 win. The Ravens defense, meanwhile, played a significant role in letting slip what ESPN Analytics deemed a 99.1% chance at victory. At one point, safety Kyle Hamilton looked up at the scoreboard to see that Allen had thrashed them for nearly 400 passing yards and felt sick to his stomach. Coach John Harbaugh said his “No. 1 disappointment” was their inability to keep Allen in the pocket. Humphrey has been one of the most vocal defensive leaders when it comes to articulating the state of the organization. The two-time All-Pro selection has been the flag bearer in the fight to get Baltimore’s defense back to being “feared.” When the team hit its nadir last November, he waxed openly about the standard. When they lost in Buffalo in January, he was blunt that the message was, “We lost. Get over it.” Only they could control how they respond, he posited. And after a Week 1 loss, Humphrey was blunt. “The current problem on the team,” he said, “is the defense.” Humphrey was adamant that he feels as if the group is together and well-equipped to rebound. Baltimore’s defense has a good mix of veteran leadership, highly paid stars and top draft picks. The team’s voice of reason wasn’t particularly a star Sunday night. He managed four tackles, eighth most on the team. Pro Football Focus graded him a 47.3 on defense and 52.7 in coverage. Ravens coach John Harbaugh speaks to the media after practice Wednesday. Harbaugh's team allowed an NFL-worst 41 points in its season opener. (Kevin Richardson/Staff) His frustration, and thus the lack of maturity Humphrey alluded to, is that “everyone wants to make a play. … Do your job and if a play comes to you to make, make it. I think working on maturity comes in practice.” When the defense gets disjointed, it falls apart. That’s something this group has preached going back to their troubles from last year. Humphrey’s message coming out of their 0-1 start? They can’t afford to “protect this guy or that guy.” If the Ravens are going to avoid a poor defensive start like 2024, “it’s not going to be a situation where somebody’s been doing something wrong and nothing gets said.” There’s an attitude shift in the locker room. One teeming with urgency. Humphrey let out a laugh in disbelief just thinking about it. So many of the plays Baltimore saw in practice leading up to Week 1 showed up as they anticipated Sunday night. They were in “perfect calls” for much of the night. Some of that is a lack of execution based on what defensive coordinator Zach Orr is feeding for a given play. And some of that means how the Bills orchestrated their offense. Either way, the Ravens felt prepared enough to win. “That’s why the loss hurts so bad,” Humphrey said, “because we knew exactly what they were gonna do in a couple different situations and all 11 guys couldn’t get together.” 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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