The Baltimore Ravens are an interesting case on the defensive side of the football.
On it’s surface, the unit looks as if a universe-sized black hole has taken the team and spit it into oblivion – ranking 31st in total defense (409.5 yards allowed per game). Yet, the Ravens are 11th in takeaways in the National Football League and have shown an ability to get creative in coverage schemes.
Two games have told a harrowing tale of Baltimore’s defense, one more grotesque than an Edgar Allan Poe short story, filled with ugly truths and no redeeming qualities for the focus of the tale and another of a redemptive spirit – akin to Flannery O’Connor’s writing. Just like in the Southern Gothic writer’s novels, the heroes in the story realized their errors and looked inward. That self-reflective spirit guided the team to victory.
Here’s a tale of two of Baltimore’s defensive performance and perhaps, a jolt of lightning that has found the Ravens and revived them – imbuing the outfit with the life that Baltimoreans are used to at M&T Bank Stadium.
The Buffalo Bills made Baltimore’s defense look silly.
Baltimore’s football team is known as the Ravens for Poe’s work “The Raven”. In this writing, a raven torments a grieving man who lost his wife by constantly repeating the word “nevermore”. Shenanigans. Ridiculousness. Absurdity.
Baltimore’s defense had a topsy turvy display against the Bills and bounced back against the Cleveland Browns with a strong display.
The Ravens allowed 29 first downs – mostly on the back of 2024 NFL Most Valuable Player Josh Allen. Allen went 33-for-46 for 394 yards and two touchdowns. The former MVP was sacked just one time, with the defense attempting to contain him from the outside. Once the contain was broken – Allen went to work and had 30 rushing yards for two touchdowns.
Losing safety Ar’Darius Washington to a torn Achilles left All Pro safety Kyle Hamilton unable to roam to his heart’s content, leaving a lack of diversity for defensive coordinator Zachary Orr’s schemes. With two safeties in rookie Malachi Starks and Washington, the Ravens would have more to work with on the back end to allow Hamilton to assist in containing Allen.
New Ravens corner Jaire Alexander looked a bit lost in coverage and now ranks 140th out of 141 cornerbacks in the NFL with a 29.8 Pro Football Focus grade. Alexander, who fought through injuries throughout his time with the Green Bay Packers, specifically a Grade 3 posterior cruciate ligament injury (knee), didn’t suit up in the second game against the Browns. It wasn’t due to injury, according to Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh.
“I wish it was really black and white, but I think [Jaire Alexander] will be out there soon,” Harbaugh said in his Monday press conference, via the Ravens’ team website. “It could be as early as this week, but it’s going to be when he feels [right] and [when] you can see that he’s right to go out there and just play like top-level Jaire. I don’t want to put him in a situation where he’s got to try to overcome not quite being [as] right as he can be, especially if we’ve got guys that can play well.”
Baltimore fought back valiantly against the Cleveland Browns.
O’Connor’s writings are often about redeeming one’s flawed character. In “The Turkey”, a boy looks to shoot a turkey, but has to confront his own selfish ambitions.
23-year-old cornerback T.J. Tampa was active in Alexander’s place, taking his spot as the fourth corner in Baltimore’s dime package. Tampa’s 59.0 PFF grade is 80th out of 141 corners, having received 16 snaps this season and with one reception allowed.
Baltimore stymied Cleveland’s offense and put former Super Bowl MVP and long-time Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco in a blender. Flacco was hit nine times and sacked twice and he threw an interception. Defensive end Odafe Oweh, linebacker Roquan Smith and defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike each provided a proper thrashing of Flacco with two quarterback hits a piece.
Buoyed in the tunnel pregame by his hype man in Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis, Smith had one of the best games of his career with 15 combined tackles (eight solo), three tackles for loss and a 63-yard fumble recover for a touchdown with 8:19 remaining in the game.
Outside linebacker Tavius Robinson stepped up in a big way – making six tackles (four solo), one tackle for loss, a quarterback hit, a sack and a forced fumble that Smith returned for a touchdown. He also joined Oweh and Mike Green with three pressures.
By the way, Nate Wiggins had an interception return for 61 yards against Flacco. It was third and four with 11:46 remaining in the third quarter. The Browns were on their own 46-yard line and had an opportunity to come back from a 13-3 deficit. Orr sent five blitzers, moving Smith up closer to the line of scrimmage and delaying fellow middle linebacker Trenton Simpson’s blitz. Smith went into the B gap on the left side and was picked up by the running back in pass protection. Green showed blitz on the right side, before dropping back into coverage. The blitzing Ravens flushed Flacco to his right, before he made an ill-advised throw right into the hands of the swooping corvid wearing number two. Wiggins flew down the field with ample speed before being tripped up by Browns offensive lineman Joel Bitonio (of all people).
Baltimore will host the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football.
The Ravens are now 1-1. All can be forgiven. There is much to gain. Time will only tell the story if Baltimore can bounce back. One thing that is for certain – the coverage stats don’t look bad. Baltimore ranks ninth in expected points allowed per pass, seventh in pass success rate, eighth in yards per reception and yards after catch over expected, according to ESPN data analyst Sam Hoppen.
Dani Treisman explains what these stats mean in his journal article titled, “An Analysis of Quarterback Ability to Hit Receivers In-Stride Using NFL Player Tracking Data”:
YAC Over Expected (YACOE) = YAC – Expected YAC
xYAC Difference = Expected YAC (pass-forward) – Expected YAC (pass-arrival)
Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE) = Completion Percentage – Expected Completion Percentage
These stats are a better indicator of how well a team is defending passes or receivers.
Unfortunately for the Ravens, the team edge rusher Kyle Van Noy who led the team with 12.5 sacks last season. He suffered a hamstring injury against the Browns.
Even scarier is Detroit’s high-octane offense, one of which mimics the car-centric city’s auto manufacturing past. The Lions boast the third-ranked offense in points for with 65 so far this season and are fifth in yardage (757).
Detroit quarterback Jared Goff is coming off of a surgical performance against the Chicago Bears in which he went 23-for-28 on passes for 334 yards and tossed five touchdowns. Amon-Ra St. Brown had three of those touchdown receptions with 115 yards and Jameson Williams added two grabs for 108 yards and a touchdown. Eight different receivers caught passes in the Sunday matchup. Baltimore’s pass defense is 31st in the league (596) in yards allowed and 23rd in passing touchdowns allowed.
The Lions also punched the Bears right in the teeth in the ground game with the one-to-punch of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, who combined for 23 carries for 151 yards and two touchdowns en route to a 52-21 victory over Chicago. Baltimore’s rush defense sits 17th in yards allowed (223) and 25th in touchdowns allowed (three).
Without Van Noy, Baltimore is going to have to find a better way to get pressure on the quarterback. Charm City’s squad only has generated 1.5 sacks per game (25th in the league) in the first two matchups of the season with the Bills and Browns. While the Ravens have struggled to get home with the usual suspects in the front seven, one thing that can come back to assist them is to disguise blitzes from defensive backs.
Bringing Hamilton up, sending Nate Wiggins or Marlon Humphrey – even bringing Starks into to the fold can help. The added pressure that Orr brought against the Browns is perceptible and it’s feasible that the Ravens will get even more creative with its usage going forward against the Lions.
Will the horror continue like in Poe’s novels? Or will the self-reflection of the inner ugliness and final rise to beauty be on display like O’Connor’s works?
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Kyle J. Andrews is a 2018 University of Baltimore and Mount Saint Joseph High School graduate, along with former sports reporter for the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa., the Baltimore Sun Media Group, 105.7 The Fan, Baltimore Beatdown, and Fox Sports 1340 AM. He has covered the Orioles, Ravens, high school sports in the Baltimore area and Central Pennsylvania, minor league baseball, Penn State and Maryland athletics and more.