When the Baltimore Ravens lost Terrell Suggs for the season, anyone could have predicted that the Ravens’ pass rush would suffer. Sure enough, the Ravens only got to Derek Carr once Sunday. But the real impact of losing Suggs was so much more than that. It was felt in every missed tackle, every blown assignment, and every time a defender couldn’t shed a block. In a word: lethargy.
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Remember when the Ravens’ defense was fun to watch? It wasn’t that long ago. In 2011, under Chuck Pagano, the Ravens gave up just 16.6 points per game, and they did it with Cary Williams and Bernard Pollard starting in the secondary. The difference between that defense and the 2015 defense isn’t talent. It’s attitude. In 2011, even in the twilights of their careers, Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Suggs and Pagano set a tone that every yard was going to be a battle. Suggs was the last remnant of that era, and now he too is sidelined.
The difference in emotion was obvious. In Week 1, the Ravens were flying around to the football, both through the air against the run. They played more press coverage, but even when playing off coverage, the Ravens closed out so fast on shorter routes that the Broncos couldn’t take advantage.
In Week 2, however, the Ravens were slow, and the gameplan only encouraged that. Take the Raiders first third down for example.
With eight in the box, the Ravens’ formation looks somewhat aggressive, save for the cornerbacks lined up 10(!) yards off the ball. That’s 10 yards off the ball on a third-and-four situation.
The play call was every bit as conservative as the cornerbacks’ alignment indicated. Take a look.
The Ravens rushed three, dropped five defenders into intermediate zones and three defensive backs in deep zones. Basically, it’s a play designed to take away the deep ball at the expense of surrendering an easy five yards. This on third and four.
Needless to say, that three man rush did not generate any pressure, Derek Carr was able to check down and the Raiders picked up the first down. Not long after, Amari Cooper torched Jimmy Smith for the Raiders’ first score of the game. Had the Ravens gotten the stop here, that touchdown would never have happened.
The most obvious way to gauge the energy level is tackles. When a player is engaged, tackling should come easy (unless that player lacks the proper form, which is true only for Matt Elam on the Ravens’ roster). Accordingly, the Ravens only missed three tackles against the Denver Broncos. They missed 11 against the Raiders.
The easiest way to get the players engaged again is to move from a reactive defense to a proactive one. In other words, rather than basing the defense around preventing big plays (something the Ravens fail at anyway), base the defense around actually making plays.
That falls on Dean Pees. Jimmy Smith and Kyle Arrington are up to the challenge of playing closer to the line of scrimmage (Webb probably isn’t), and Will Hill is rangy enough to make up for any mistakes. The personnel is there for aggressiveness. If the Ravens could be aggressive with Cary Williams, they can be aggressive with Arrington.
I have long taken issue with Pess’ conservative coverage schemes, but the Ravens have managed to tread water defensively with a dominant front seven and good emotional leadership. That’s gone now with Suggs sidelined. It’s up to Pees to manufacture pressure and keep the defense engaged. Whether or not he’s up to the task will decide the Ravens’ season.
Shawn began his writing career with Bleacher Report as a Ravens featured columnist and Breaking News Team writer. He moved on to write for Yahoo! and work on the Ravens Central Radio podcast. Most recently, he was an Editor at the Baltimore Wire. Shawn is a 2013 graduate of the Catholic University of America.