The Defense

[Militant X 1]

i'm hoping that our defense plays with a major chip on their shoulders this game and come out blasting the skins offense for 60 minutes.

~Mili

[Tank 92]

I see Bernard having a huge game and blasting Bob a few times.

Feed The Beast!

[wayne]

Secondary should be a our strength with Jimmy coming back. Maybe we can get more coverage sacks now.

[Sizzlebshu]

The problem with our D currently is two-fold.

1. Severe lack of talent atm
2. Scheme due to severe lack of talent and our dc's philosphy

1.
If I were breaking our current D into tiers, this is how I would do it

Tier 1 - Carrying the team. Losing any of these guys is a crushing blow to our D.
Terrell Suggs
Haloti Ngata
Ed Reed

Say what you will but these guys are currently the heart and soul of this defense. We have one stud at every level that can play at such a high level that they force offenses to account for them. This takes so much pressure off of everyone else allowing guys that wouldnt make an impact on their own seem like studs.

As you saw this year though, with all of them currently experiencing injuries and not being even half as effective as normal, our D took a huge hit.

Ngata's knee and shoulder destroyed any pressure our d line had.
Suggs absence due to the achilles killed our pass rush and left our linebackers very green
Ed Reed's shoulder has always been a problem but this year he is having some mental lapses that cause him to give up big plays, possibly because he has to change the way he plays due to it.

Tier 2 - Can be effective on their own and impact the game to a degree, but losing them is manageable
Ray Lewis
Ladarius Webb

Now I know what you're thinking. Ray Lewis, not the heart and soul of the D, What the heck? is he smoking? Ray is possibly one of the greatest players of all time. I'm not refuting that. However, in terms of talent right now, he can't carry the team. He is not the pass rusher he once was, and the dropped weight had given him trouble shedding blocks for only a minimal gain in pass coverage ( a valiant effort but ultimately he was fine at his old weight and dropping too much created new problems for him). As you saw when he went down last year and this year, we have players that can adequately fill in for him and keep the D playing close to the same level as when he is on the field.

As for webb, when he was healthy, he was not playing at the level he was playing at last year, due to a variety of factors mainly there being no pass rush. A shutdown corner, however, maintains his coverage no matter the circumstances though. Thats the reason I rank him in tier 2. He is a good corner and the best one we have, but he isn't like Reed who when he plays at his best can take away half the field. You still have to account for Webb but he can be beat. Losing him was bad this year, but it didnt have the same effect as losing a tier 1 player like Terrell Suggs. We got by not much worse off without Webb. WE were definitely worse for it, but it was manageable.

Tier 3 - Needs help from other players to be effective
Kruger
Mcphee
etc...

This basically sums up the rest our D. These are the guys that can be effective, but usually only when our stars are there to take the brunt of the offensive pressure. I dont want to say they are role players because they arent, however, their play and how effective they are largely depends on how much pressure and focus is diverted towards our tier 1 guys.

The 5 best players, aka half our D, on our D all suffered huge injuries leaving only players that can't impact the game on their own which leaves us severely depleted talent wise on D. Anyway thats my summation of the D. Feel free to agree or disagree, but I think its a fairly accurate picture of how we look right now.

2.
Dean Pees bend dont break policy has been getting a lot of hate, especially from me, but after thinking about it, given our current predicament, it is actually a very effective method.

While I deplore the philosophy for a number of reasons, the fact is right now. Talent wise we cant run more complicated scheme. We dont have a shutdown corner who can cover his guy in man to man when we blitz. We don't have a healthy Ngata that occupy 2-3 blockers letting guys get free to hit the qb. We dont have a healthy Suggs who can not only hit the qb, but drop back in coverage and play man to man.

Given that situation, Pees has decided to implement a scheme that will just focus on limiting points and drives. He is basically playing to prevent the big play and scores and giving the opponents yards on offense in order to do it. And while our D ranks near the bottom of the league in yardage, the strategy has been good enough to keep opponents from putting points on the board.

Now I am against this because keeping the D on the field for longer periods of time by giving up all of this yardage limits the offenses time of possession and tires the D out. However, I understand that talent wise, we cannot play the way we have been accustomed to watching the D play over the years and as long as Pees prevents opposing offenses from scoring he can get the same effect as he would by limiting the yardage like our D has done in years past. As long as its a low scoring game, he give our offense a chance. Not that our offense can't score points, but we dont want to force it to have to put up 30 a night to win. He was able to do this same thing with similar talent when he was in NE.

However, Pees's entire strategy falls apart if the offense cant score points or maintain the time of possession to alleviate pressure off the D, which has been the problem lately. Given the circumstances, Pees scheme is the best we can do, but it still relies on a number of factors, some of which the D can't control, to be effective.

[SecretAgentMan]

[quote name='Sizzlebshu' timestamp='1354948203' post='1249463']
The problem with our D currently is two-fold.

1. Severe lack of talent atm
2. Scheme due to severe lack of talent and our dc's philosphy

1.
If I were breaking our current D into tiers, this is how I would do it

Tier 1 - Carrying the team. Losing any of these guys is a crushing blow to our D.
Terrell Suggs
Haloti Ngata
Ed Reed

Say what you will but these guys are currently the heart and soul of this defense. We have one stud at every level that can play at such a high level that they force offenses to account for them. This takes so much pressure off of everyone else allowing guys that wouldnt make an impact on their own seem like studs.

As you saw this year though, with all of them currently experiencing injuries and not being even half as effective as normal, our D took a huge hit.

Ngata's knee and shoulder destroyed any pressure our d line had.
Suggs absence due to the achilles killed our pass rush and left our linebackers very green
Ed Reed's shoulder has always been a problem but this year he is having some mental lapses that cause him to give up big plays, possibly because he has to change the way he plays due to it.

Tier 2 - Can be effective on their own and impact the game to a degree, but losing them is manageable
Ray Lewis
Ladarius Webb

Now I know what you're thinking. Ray Lewis, not the heart and soul of the D, What the heck? is he smoking? Ray is possibly one of the greatest players of all time. I'm not refuting that. However, in terms of talent right now, he can't carry the team. He is not the pass rusher he once was, and the dropped weight had given him trouble shedding blocks for only a minimal gain in pass coverage ( a valiant effort but ultimately he was fine at his old weight and dropping too much created new problems for him). As you saw when he went down last year and this year, we have players that can adequately fill in for him and keep the D playing close to the same level as when he is on the field.

As for webb, when he was healthy, he was not playing at the level he was playing at last year, due to a variety of factors mainly there being no pass rush. A shutdown corner, however, maintains his coverage no matter the circumstances though. Thats the reason I rank him in tier 2. He is a good corner and the best one we have, but he isn't like Reed who when he plays at his best can take away half the field. You still have to account for Webb but he can be beat. Losing him was bad this year, but it didnt have the same effect as losing a tier 1 player like Terrell Suggs. We got by not much worse off without Webb. WE were definitely worse for it, but it was manageable.

Tier 3 - Needs help from other players to be effective
Kruger
Mcphee
etc...

This basically sums up the rest our D. These are the guys that can be effective, but usually only when our stars are there to take the brunt of the offensive pressure. I dont want to say they are role players because they arent, however, their play and how effective they are largely depends on how much pressure and focus is diverted towards our tier 1 guys.

The 5 best players, aka half our D, on our D all suffered huge injuries leaving only players that can't impact the game on their own which leaves us severely depleted talent wise on D. Anyway thats my summation of the D. Feel free to agree or disagree, but I think its a fairly accurate picture of how we look right now.

2.
Dean Pees bend dont break policy has been getting a lot of hate, especially from me, but after thinking about it, given our current predicament, it is actually a very effective method.

While I deplore the philosophy for a number of reasons, the fact is right now. Talent wise we cant run more complicated scheme. We dont have a shutdown corner who can cover his guy in man to man when we blitz. We don't have a healthy Ngata that occupy 2-3 blockers letting guys get free to hit the qb. We dont have a healthy Suggs who can not only hit the qb, but drop back in coverage and play man to man.

Given that situation, Pees has decided to implement a scheme that will just focus on limiting points and drives. He is basically playing to prevent the big play and scores and giving the opponents yards on offense in order to do it. And while our D ranks near the bottom of the league in yardage, the strategy has been good enough to keep opponents from putting points on the board.

Now I am against this because keeping the D on the field for longer periods of time by giving up all of this yardage limits the offenses time of possession and tires the D out. However, I understand that talent wise, we cannot play the way we have been accustomed to watching the D play over the years and as long as Pees prevents opposing offenses from scoring he can get the same effect as he would by limiting the yardage like our D has done in years past. As long as its a low scoring game, he give our offense a chance. Not that our offense can't score points, but we dont want to force it to have to put up 30 a night to win.
[/quote]
The only problem with our D is that we are injured. A healthy Ravens D is a top 3 unit. No coaches, just an injury thing

[Bltravens]

[quote name='Sizzlebshu' timestamp='1354948203' post='1249463']
The problem with our D currently is two-fold.

1. Severe lack of talent atm
2. Scheme due to severe lack of talent and our dc's philosphy
[/quote]

I don't buy into the notion that we have a severe lack of talent on this team, I just don't. There's one area where we lack legit talent and it's on the Dline. With the crazy improvement in play of Arthur Jones the last 4 weeks even that's been nullified. Upshaw as a rookie is damn close to being as good as JJ was and arguably more versatile. Ellerbe is at the very least as talented as a top 20 ILB. McClain is not, but that was a signing because of how immature Ellerbe had been as a player up until this season. Ray is not what Ray once was but he's still better than the average ILB, Suggs is hurt but when healthy he's a top 3 34 OLB in the entire NFL, Reed is still a better coverage safety than most he just can't tackle like he used to.

We absolutely have the talent to be a top 10 defense in the NFL.

[RavensAllTheWay]

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a more injury-riddled defense this season than ours. There might be.

[Sizzlebshu]

[quote name='Bltravens' timestamp='1354992322' post='1249669']
I don't buy into the notion that we have a severe lack of talent on this team, I just don't. There's one area where we lack legit talent and it's on the Dline. With the crazy improvement in play of Arthur Jones the last 4 weeks even that's been nullified. Upshaw as a rookie is damn close to being as good as JJ was and arguably more versatile. Ellerbe is at the very least as talented as a top 20 ILB. McClain is not, but that was a signing because of how immature Ellerbe had been as a player up until this season. Ray is not what Ray once was but he's still better than the average ILB, Suggs is hurt but when healthy he's a top 3 34 OLB in the entire NFL, Reed is still a better coverage safety than most he just can't tackle like he used to.

We absolutely have the talent to be a top 10 defense in the NFL.
[/quote]
Ellerbe is injured

Upshaw is green and still learning the game. And altho he is learning fast, he isn't polished enough yet to be counted on consistently.

I didnt say Ray wasn't talented and I never said that. He just doesnt carry the defense anymore. he isnt so phenomenally talented like Suggs or Ngata that losing him has an insane impact on the play of the team. We can lose him and easily replace him while still maintaining the defense at the level it was on when he was on the field. His leadership is more of a loss than his production.

If you read the post, I say Suggs, Reed, and Ngata are all phenomenally talented and important to the D, however because of their injuries their impact has been reduced severely.

Injuries robbed our D of a lot of talent forcing us to rely on either players that still very green or ones that are effective when the studs are playing at the normal level, but can't handle having a normal level of attention placed on them, like Mcphee and Kruger, altho kruger has shown a lot of improvement in dealing with doubles, but was largely ineffective until Suggs came back and forced attention off of him.

When healthy our D is very talented, but the reality is there are only 3 players on our D that carry it and allow us to be such an effective D and as we saw, losing even one has the potential to dramatically decrease the effectiveness of our D.

[Sizzlebshu]

[quote name='Mr. Irrelevant' timestamp='1354948511' post='1249469']
The only problem with our D is that we are injured. A healthy Ravens D is a top 3 unit. No coaches, just an injury thing
[/quote]
I agree and disagree. You have withhold judgment on Pees until he has the full unit. However, injuries rob the D of talent and expose the talent level of certain players. If our D is relient on Suggs, Ngata, and Reed to be effective and our D falls apart when one of them goes down, that seems to be a huge problem to me.