[News] Why The Ravens Defense Is Playing Better

[Maryland]

Part of it is playing better; part of it is getting to play the Browns, Jags, Rams' backup QB & Dolphins after firing their OC. If they hold the Seahawks to below 25 I'll be shocked, considering they just hung at least 38 in consecutive weeks, including against the Vikings' good defense.

[rmcjacket23]

"Why the Ravens Defense is playing better" Because that's what they do! The Offense leaves them hanging game after game after game! It's the Offense turn to carry this team but injuries and bad play calling stops this team every time! Offense been in position several times to win games and put it all on the Defense to save the game with a struggling secondary and then when the secondary comes up SHOTE here comes the sniveling and unnecessary finger pointing! Now they will be facing a mobile QB and I can just hear the whining and the Hawks got the memo or maybe from our website about our pocket passers and will surround them like Indians circling wagons! Better make plays this week with QB rolling out the pocket "FIRST" to get the pass off or its a wrap and please don't throw towards Mr Sherman if he shutdown Antonio Brown what do you think he is gonna do to Givens?! TEs will be the best mismatch and not short passes between the LBers and safeties! Gotta sling that Rock like big ben did with shots of the run to beat these dudes!

LOL good one

[stixfix69]

Problem with people saying it has only been 3 games against bad teams forget we set a NFL record with 12 games losing or wining by a touchdown or less.....And the wonderful schedule the NFL gave us to start the year....

[NCMan]

I'm almost 28 years old and I'd still play with my hair on fire for a sticker. It's not about how old or mature you are, it's the damn sticker! (That represents validation and acknowledgment of your efforts - great motivator). What I see as a massive improvement on defense is the lack of yellow flags thrown against us.

Oh can I please have a sticker too, Coach? Or maybe a gold star? Gimme a break. These are grown men playing for crazy amounts of money. Didn't know they had to get "stickers". Do they pass out participation trophies to everyone w/some cookies after the game, too?

[EliteRavens]

Well it was Miami...

[GENE2407]

The answer is simple..........they didn't pass the ball 40 times. Any good team is going to realize that and boom, we're dead. You watch when Pittsburgh or Cincinnati play us.

[law215]

These writers can help themselves with hype. When you are playing Rams and Browns, hopefully your defense plays better. The unit that improved is the special teams. The test will be against the next 4 teams.

[KidNme]

Ya, our D is playing better because the last few teams we've played have been basement dwellers like us :-)

I'm sure these guys are improving but media facts are always misleading.

[ravensdfan]

lol This is a joke right? I mean we've played the Rams, Browns, and Miami. Talk to me after we've faced Seattle, KC, Pitt again (with Big Ben) and the Bengals.

[thecommish]

i dont believe we are playing that much better....its just we played some horrible offenses! We will see but we havent played well on defense since Pees took over!

[RaRaRavens]

It's great and all, but the best defenses should play like this most of the season, not at the tail end, when our season is already under the bus. Denver, for example, has played prime defense from W1.

 

So while I'm glad the unit is playing better, I don't see much reason to be proud per se, because the defense failed at their main offseason task - be ready by the beginning of the regular season! Instead, countless games have been lost because of defensive plunders.

 

Again, I'm glad they're in the zone now, it makes watching our last 4 games bearable, but it doesn't matter much anymore. Now the only thing that matters is if they'll be ready for 2016 regular season.

Edited December 9, 2015 by RaRaRavens

[Dorota]

Oh can I please have a sticker too, Coach? Or maybe a gold star? Gimme a break. These are grown men playing for crazy amounts of money. Didn't know they had to get "stickers". Do they pass out participation trophies to everyone w/some cookies after the game, too?

You know that's not how I meant it. Of course they will do their best one way or another. It's the fact, that positive feedback gives confidence, which in turn results in better performance, that gets more positive feedback, etc. That's just fact. I'm not talking about players throwing tantrums because they didn't get a sticker, that would be childish.

[jdynamite]

Although there is a brief mention of it in the article. I think it's safe to say the defense's "improved performance" is relative to their current string of competition. Lol.

Jaguars , Rams, Browns, & Dolphins none of which have top performing offenses, or consistent offensive play week to week.

[jdynamite]

Going forward, I just want to see improvement and growth from younger players such as: Jernigan, C.Davis, Z.Smith, B.Urban, T.Brooks, & even T.Walker. Anyone know what's going on with Trey Walker? Has he been injured or what? I remember when we signed S.Wright for the 49ers game the announcer said exactly what I was thinking ( wow they just signed this guy this week and he's playing over a 4th round pick wow ).

If the kid is healthy when not get him some form of game action during a terrible season.

( not even gonna get started with A.Brown I mean can the guy really be so terrible that he's still not good enough to even play special teams? )

[gabrielgrissom]

Baloney. Look at the quarterbacks they played the last 4 weeks and still managed to lose half of the games. Tannehill? Seriously? He was almost as bad as Schaub. As inept as he was, he still managed to burn the Ravens secondary once again for a long TD pass. Deja Vu. Next comes Russell Wilson. then Alex Smaith, Ben and Andy Dalton. These guys are gonna light up the secondary like Christmas. How can they beat them if they can't beat the likes of Tannehill?

 is it me or what? Ive never seen alex smith 'light up a secondary like christmas'... Come on dude 

In other news Pats waived Melvin, lets resign him...Loved his size, he had a rough few games after coming back from injury for us, and Harbs cut him.....He is a better option than Arrington, and probably Wright if he is healthy, had he not gotten hurt, he was pushing for a top 3 CB spot coming out of camp....

  Id love him on a future contract not right now though... Love the way he has worked... But he is not at a starting NFL level right now would love him as depth.

i need to see consistency from players before i buy into them. everyone is beginning to love buck allen saying he is the next best thing but i remeber everyone saying the same thing about bernard pierce and look what happened

True but I just can't see that happening... With pierce it was more of sneaky speed that could break away big runs... He was more of a home run hitter then the league took notice... I don't know maybe its my liking for buck... But I liked him ever since I watched film on him before the draft. In my honest opinion the top 5 running backs out of college last year was turkey and Gordon, abdullah, Jay Ajayi, and buck Allen... One thing he has to improve on though is his vision for the backside... Sometimes I will watch him and the backside will be there to hit but sometimes he will settle for just running into a wall... He does have the elusiveness as a pass threat that we so desperately needed

[picke]

Well, remember what the Browns did against us the first time.

[DrinkmoreBeer]

Defenses usually play better against poor offenses.

[NCMan]

You know that's not how I meant it. Of course they will do their best one way or another. It's the fact, that positive feedback gives confidence, which in turn results in better performance, that gets more positive feedback, etc. That's just fact. I'm not talking about players throwing tantrums because they didn't get a sticker, that would be childish.

I think "childish" is Daddy Harbaugh even giving out "stickers" in the first place. I'm sure they all get some milk and cookies, either way. Unless they are in the Doghouse. 

[alexbayrobin]

Grow up. I'm 16 and I love this idea. They are playing harder and making less mistakes. If this helps I'm all for it.

 

 

Oh:  I didn't neg you. I don't neg anybody.

Edited December 9, 2015 by alexbayrobin

[Purple&Black]

I think "childish" is Daddy Harbaugh even giving out "stickers" in the first place. I'm sure they all get some milk and cookies, either way. Unless they are in the Doghouse. 

No offense, but I'm guessing you weren't an athlete. This isn't childish, this breeds competition. Competition pulls better play from your players. I don't care how old you are, bragging rights are bragging rights.

[Purple&Black]

Part of it is playing better; part of it is getting to play the Browns, Jags, Rams' backup QB & Dolphins after firing their OC. If they hold the Seahawks to below 25 I'll be shocked, considering they just hung at least 38 in consecutive weeks, including against the Vikings' good defense.

Yeah, but the seahawks (and chief's for that matter) have generated offense off of the running game. They SHOULDN'T be able to run the ball against us, which should make things easier on the D. Seahawks don't exactly have all stars at wr. Talk all you want about the Jags and Dolphins, but they had better weapons at WR. Steelers and Bengals games worry me, but we always come to play against division rivals

[slowboater]

Ryan. You really aren't proving anything...

"The Ravens faced some of the league%u2019s best offenses early in the first half of the year with the Bengals (No. 8), Steelers (No. 2), Cardinals (No. 1) and Chargers (No. 6). The Jaguars (No. 18), Rams (No. 31), Browns (No. 26) and Dolphins (No. 29) haven%u2019t posed as much of a threat."

You go on about why they are playing better. Effort. Discipline. Dominating up front....

When in reality, the last four games have been against poor offenses and some even poorer QB's. Let us see after the next 4 weeks how the Ravens are playing better.

[rmcjacket23]

Ryan. You really aren't proving anything... "The Ravens faced some of the league’s best offenses early in the first half of the year with the Bengals (No. 8), Steelers (No. 2), Cardinals (No. 1) and Chargers (No. 6). The Jaguars (No. 18), Rams (No. 31), Browns (No. 26) and Dolphins (No. 29) haven’t posed as much of a threat." You go on about why they are playing better. Effort. Discipline. Dominating up front.... When in reality, the last four games have been against poor offenses and some even poorer QB's. Let us see after the next 4 weeks how the Ravens are playing better.

But again, I think that argument is a bit flawed...

 

1. While you could argue its against bad offenses, which it is, keep in mind that we also played the Browns earlier in the season AT HOME, where we gave up over 500 yards of offense and 33 points.

 

A month or so later, in their building, we give up under 350 yards and 20 points.

 

2. A better way to evaluate whether there's improvement or not might be to look and see how well we have performed against teams compared to how those teams perform against the rest of the teams they've played thus far. So lets do that...

 

The general consensus (and I agree with this) is that for the first six games of the year our defense was largely garbage, outside of the Broncos game week 1 and playing Michael Vick vs the Steelers. Against the Bengals, 49ers, Browns 1st time, and Raiders, the defense was awful. So, if we evaluate from the Cardinals game forward (the last six games)...

 

Cardinals: average 420 YPG, 299 PYPG, 120 RYPG, 32 PPG. Against the Ravens... 414 Yards, 264 passing, 150 rushing, 26 points.

 

Chargers: average 381 YPG, 298 PYPG, 83 RYPG, 21 PPG. Against the Ravens... 371 Yards, 290 passing, 81 rushing, 26 points.

 

Jags: averaged 350 YPG, 256 PYPG, 95 RYPG, 23 PPG. Against the Ravens... 258 Yards, 168 passing, 90 rushing, 22 points.

 

Rams: averaged 296 YPG, 178 PYPG, 118 RYPG, 16 PPG. Against the Ravens...213 Yards, 131 passing, 82 rushing, 13 points.

 

Browns: averaged 331 YPG, 257 PYPG, 74 RYPG, 18 PPG. Against the Ravens...338 Yards, 275 passing, 63 rushing, 20 points.

 

Dolphins: averaged 326 YPG, 231 PYPG, 96 RYPG, 20 PPG. Against the Ravens... 219 Yards, 82 passing, 137 rushing, 9 points.

 

So, if you really evaluate it, against most of these teams, we have been either average or better than average in our last six games, including games against two better offenses (Arizona and San Diego).

[Crusader]

"Why The Ravens Defense Is Playing Better" Does it really matter for this year? They were the main group that allowed the Ravens season to be over so soon. Shut up and sit back down don't want to hear how good you are when it does not matter. Ravens will have a different crew next year.

[mearzunkies]

I see them being humble Crusader. Why da hate G? There will only be a few additions on D, & most of them will be our playa's coming back from injury:-)

[mearzunkies]

Well said jacket23

[bozo]

i'll tell u why the ravens def is playing better, it's simple there playing teams with losing records like there's. sry but its the truth.

[Tru11]

i'll tell u why the ravens def is playing better, it's simple there playing teams with losing records like there's. sry but its the truth.

 

their best game came against 1 of the top teams in the NFL.....