ExtremeRavens Posted 12 hours ago Posted 12 hours ago The two most glaring numbers for the Ravens’ defense so far this season are passing yards allowed and sacks. The Ravens are ranked No. 26 in pass defense, allowing 236 yards per game, and rookie outside linebacker Mike Green leads the team in sacks with 2 1/2, as well as 11 quarterback hurries. A rookie? That pretty much tells the story of the success, or the lack of it. For the past two seasons, there is always this speculation, more of a myth, that the Ravens’ defense has improved during the year, particularly in the second half, but that hasn’t been the case. It’s more talk than anything else. But instead of yapping so much, the Ravens need to start playing better — stacking wins and getting prepared to play a list of impressive quarterbacks in the final four games of the regular season. “But it’s not hard, but it’s a little annoying — not from you guys, but for myself having to get up here every week and be like, ‘We need to turn it on. We need to turn it on.’ It’s been like that ever since Week 1,” Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said Wednesday. “It’s time that we go out and do it, and there’s no excuses that are to be made at this point.” Preach, brother. “But like I said, it is a lot of talk,” Hamilton said. “We can stand up here and tell you our plan every week, but it’s a matter of us going out there and actually executing it.” The Ravens have the Bengals and Joe Burrow on Sunday in Cincinnati followed by New England’s Drake Maye, an NFL Most Valuable Player award candidate, then Green Bay’s Jordan Love. They finish with a season-ending second altercation with 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers, who completed 23 of 34 passes for 284 yards in Pittsburgh’s 27-22 win in Baltimore on Sunday. It wasn’t exactly a vintage performance from Rodgers, who has won four NFL MVP Awards, but you get the picture. Top-tier quarterbacks have had their way with the Ravens this season. Buffalo’s Josh Allen passed for almost 400 yards in the season opener and Detroit’s Jared Goff and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes each had passer ratings above 100 against Baltimore. Houston’s C.J. Stroud completed 23 of 27 attempts and had four touchdown passes in the Texans’ rout of the Ravens on Oct. 4, and Detroit’s Matthew Stafford was 17 of 26 for 181 yards in the Rams’ win in Baltimore a week later. Pessimism is one thing, but so is realism. The Ravens’ defense improved a year ago because it was playing against quarterbacks such as Cleveland’s Bailey Zappe, the New York Giants’ Tommy DeVito and Tim Boyle and Pittsburgh’s Russell Wilson (twice). The Ravens went on a five-game winning streak this season going against the likes of Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa, Minnesota’s J.J. McCarthy, Cleveland’s Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders and the New York Jets’ Tyrod Taylor. That’s not exactly a group that produces fear in NFL circles. The worst part is that the Ravens still look lost in coverages at times. Opposing teams are running free in the flats and it’s been that way since the start of the season. Remember Kansas City’s Isiah Pacheco catching an 8-yard touchdown pass in the left flat in the second quarter? Or Houston receiver Nico Collins catching a 10-yard touchdown pass from Stroud in the same quarter in the right flat? How about Pittsburgh’s Jaylen Warren hauling in a 38-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter in the right flat of Sunday’s game as he went untouched? That shouldn’t be happening this late in the season. Everybody at M&T Bank Stadium knows that once a receiver like the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase or Pittsburgh’s DK Metcalf draws cornerback Marlon Humphrey to the outside, opposing quarterbacks will likely throw deep. Chase had seven catches for 110 yards in Week 13, and Metcalf had seven catches for 148 yards last Sunday. Isn’t there some way that the Ravens can rotate a safety to that side of the field, or are they still concerned about any possible threat over the middle? At least the Bengals deserve some credit. They put Chase in the slot and he might motion anywhere. Bengals wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley tries to catch a pass while Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey defends. Opposing teams have tested Humphrey in recent weeks, throwing deep against the Baltimore cornerback. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) “We do match up sometimes in the slot,” Hamilton said of Chase. “They move around so much and that’s part of the reason why they have success, you never know where he is going to be at. You try to scheme your offense and scheme your defense, or whatever it may be, so your best players can shine, and that’s what they do very well.” It’s pretty amazing to watch what goes on during games. What’s even more befuddling is that the Ravens can’t come up with any answers. They still have tackling problems (see cornerback Nate Wiggins) and both inside linebackers, Roquan Smith and rookie Teddye Buchanan, struggle in pass coverage. A lot of it, though not all of it, comes down to rushing the passer. Regardless of whether a team has Deion Sanders or Richard Sherman at cornerback, they can only cover so much space in a limited time. Defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike is tied for second on the team in sacks (two) despite playing in only two games. It just shows how far the Ravens need to go to get this defense back on track. They can come up with all the assortments of exotic blitzes against rookies like Sanders and Gabriel, but that doesn’t work versus veterans like Rodgers and Stafford. Been there. Seen that. The last time the Ravens saw Burrow was on Thanksgiving. The Bengals won, 32-14, as Burrow completed 24 of 46 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns. Maye is only 23, but he’s a major story in the NFL this season, guiding the Patriots to an 11-2 record while completing 71.5% of his passes with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions. Love is 9-3-1 with Green Bay this season with 22 touchdown passes to just four interceptions. And then there is Rodgers, who worked the game clock to perfection Sunday, draining it down to every second before the snap of the ball. He controlled the tempo of the game for Pittsburgh. It’s an uphill climb for the Ravens. Can they pull it off and win the AFC North title? Of course, especially with some help from the Steelers. But they won’t get any help from the upcoming slate of quarterbacks. It’s a good upcoming group, not like the inexperienced signal callers the Ravens faced earlier in the season. The quarterbacks have changed, and so have the parameters. Have a news tip? Contact Mike Preston at epreston@baltsun.com, 410-332-6467 and x.com/MikePrestonSun. View the full article Quote
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