[News] Ravens Defensive Coordinator Dean Pees Has A Lot To Do With No. 1 Ranking

[BR News]

Dean Pees spent six seasons in New England, including four as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator. Now in his fifth year as the Ravens’ defensive play caller, Pees has a disciplined, yet flexible unit that is adept at confusing opposing offenses.

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[The Greek]

lets kick some pats tail

[Tdot.to.Bmore]

Remember when everyone wanted Dean fired???

[The Greek]

Remember when everyone wanted Dean fired???

i think a big part of the improved defense aside from health has been the addition of leslie frazier. i am sure he has had some involvement in the game plan and schemes

[KidNme]

I'm way too pumped for this game against NE. My wife says it's not good for my heart to be so frantic over games like this one coming up Monday night but I say, that which doesn't kill me only makes me stronger!
All my bobble heads will be facing north and all the photos and jerseys on my "Ravens wall of fame" get a good tap for luck!
Last game against the Squeelers, I put every starting player's number and name for Pittsburgh on a clay pigeon and shot the heck out of them for 2 hours before the game. Had a big purple bruise on my shoulder after that but it worked!
I'm doing the same Monday after work and Brady gets a few extra clays thrown for good measure.
Not that I'm superstitious or anything :-)

[slowboater]

Remember when everyone wanted Dean fired???

I'd be curious to hear from any of them and their reasoning. Nothing has changed except the Ravens have a few more good players on defense. There is a fine line in the NFL as even good defenses like the Seahawks get spanked from time to time. Dean is who he is. Let us at least hope the offense continues to grow and take some of the pressure off of the D. Nothing would be sweeter than winning the next 4 games...... and then win 4 more!

[purpledown]

Peas has done a good job better than OC Mohrningweg. The defense is healthy, huge test Monday night. Go Ravens!

[Jonah DeVito]

Fire Dean Pees!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CQ1]

Winning is the remedy for ALOT of issues. Given that, while Joe is doing ALOT more than just standing aloofedly in the pocket- I will temporarily refrain from needling him.
Go Ravens, Go Joe. Keep progressing!

[Crusader]

Dan has done fine job but remember of the 4 top 10 offenses Ravens played they only won one. Not sure how much say Dan has in the secondary but they will be tested hard Monday Night.

[billiejean]

  1 hour ago, Tdot.to.Bmore said:

Remember when everyone wanted Dean fired???

i think a big part of the improved defense aside from health has been the addition of leslie frazier. i am sure he has had some involvement in the game plan and schemes

I think it has more to do with the upgrade in both the players and player performance from last year. But, when things go well its because of Frazier and when things don't go well its Peas, Right? We have been a top 10 defense in every year that he has been here except for one. Interestingly enough that was the SB year. The guy is a good coach. The calls to have him fired last year came from people that clearly have very little understanding of the Xs and Os of football. There were even calls to fire him in the beginning of this year which is even more ridiculous. Last year we didn't have a consistent pass rush, and our ILBs, safeties and corners (even Jimmy) had fits trying to cover guys. Even with all of those weaknesses and injuries we still ended the season as the 8th ranked defense league, and thats pretty impressive.

[sami]

Peas has done a good job better than OC Mohrningweg. The defense is healthy, huge test Monday night. Go Ravens!

OC Mohrningweg has only been the OC for a few weeks. Give the guy a break.

[billiejean]

Dan has done fine job but remember of the 4 top 10 offenses Ravens played they only won one. Not sure how much say Dan has in the secondary but they will be tested hard Monday Night.

When you are the Defensive coordinator you have a "say" in the secondary. The secondary isn't autonomous.

[verified]

I hope our game against the dolphins wasnt a fluke. The dolphins 2ndary cant cover everyone knows that so they played 90% zone. Even the worste QBS can have big games throwing against a zone. But the pats will man up and I hope its not the same ol story for us were our WR can get off the line in press coverage

[Purple Dawg 96]

The Offense can't leave the Defense "HANGING" like they did against the Cowboys! I can't believe the things I've heard being said about Dean Pees this season and it was the Offense that had the problem! Hopefully Joe will keep his guns out and not harnessed like those other games! KEEP SLINGING THAT ROCK!

[robbie29]

All I can say is- I hope Dean doesn't leave the Ravens after this season for a head coaching job. People complain about the defense (I'm not sure why), but the bottom line is Dean's defense one of the best in the NFL. The Ravens have THE BEST rushing D in the league, and only Seattle allows fewer points per game. I could care less how many yards are given up- when your Defense holds opponents to less than 18 points per game, any loss is the fault of the offense.

[Rav'n Maniac]

Being down two top receivers in Gronk and Amedola along with a hobbled Bennett and no run game will make it extremely difficult for Tom Dink-N-Dunk. We have to find a way to slow their passing attack across the middle of the field. I hope Mosley and Orr are up for the task and come ready for it.

[ellicottraven]

Can someone please delete that 'fire Dean Pees' thread in the forum if it still exists?? It's totally inappropriate and unfashionable now!

[ibleedpurpleandblack]

Being down two top receivers in Gronk and Amedola along with a hobbled Bennett and no run game will make it extremely difficult for Tom Dink-N-Dunk. We have to find a way to slow their passing attack across the middle of the field. I hope Mosley and Orr are up for the task and come ready for it.

I'd look for a lot of hard counts to try and draw our guys off sides, mainly Suggs bc (who will no doubt get at least one called on him). Defense has to play disciplined because they will also be looking to get other penalties called too (cough cough Smith Sr don't let them get in your head!!!!) Will need to score quick and then establish the run and keep Brady off the field as much as possible, time of possession is going to be key in this game...

[Halshayeji]

13 hours ago, slowboater said:

I'd be curious to hear from any of them and their reasoning. Nothing has changed except the Ravens have a few more good players on defense. There is a fine line in the NFL as even good defenses like the Seahawks get spanked from time to time. Dean is who he is. Let us at least hope the offense continues to grow and take some of the pressure off of the D. Nothing would be sweeter than winning the next 4 games...... and then win 4 more!

I don't know if I qualify because I didn't particularly call for his job mid season but really thought he should have been on the hot seat somewhere around that time. Well since then, pees finished the second half of the season with a top 10 D and this year it's a top 5 D. So if there's ever a way for a coach to get off the got seat then it's this lol

Somewhere around mid season last year I had enough of secondary players not developing at all. J.Smith and Webb were regressing. Elam and Brooks were not even improving. Arrington and Shareece wright were also in that mix. That sequence had gone on for years and I didn't think pees was the right guy for our secondary to improve. I don't even wanna mention the other secondary players that came to Baltimore and just busted. To me, it seemed like our front 7 were a unit and the secondary was a completely different unit.

the second thing that I really hated was when we go vanilla in the fourth quarters and even that has been better since mid season last year. Obviously, management had a talk with pees and Frazier has something to do with it. I don't care how it was fixed, I'm just glad it is

just to sum things up a bit, I knew how good this D was on paper but failed to come up with results and even you acgnowlidged that not much has changed. That's why I put most of the blame on the coordinator because it's ultimately his fault when he fails to get the most out of his players for 3 years.

[balfan23]

Nothing like success to calm the angry horde. So many were calling for Pees' head this off-season. While I didn't advocate that he should be fired, I would not have been upset had the team made that move. Injuries hurt this D bad over the last couple years, but it doesn't take too long before injuries start sounding more like an excuse rather than a reason.

The acquisition of Weddle, the emergence of Jernigan, the shift of Webb to S and the surprise performances from Orr and Young have transformed this defense. A lot of credit needs to go to Pees for that. Certainly we want to blame coaches when players don't meet their expectation, so when they meet or exceed that, the coaches also deserve some credit. 

But the fact remains ... we need to stay healthy. If any of our key pieces are lost here, we may not go back to being as weak as we've seen this unit in past couple years, but we'll certainly not look as dominant as we have. 

[KidNme]

3 hours ago, ibleedpurpleandblack said:

I'd look for a lot of hard counts to try and draw our guys off sides, mainly Suggs bc (who will no doubt get at least one called on him). Defense has to play disciplined because they will also be looking to get other penalties called too (cough cough Smith Sr don't let them get in your head!!!!) Will need to score quick and then establish the run and keep Brady off the field as much as possible, time of possession is going to be key in this game...

I agree! Score quick then run the ball and eat the clock with some play action thrown in once we draw them in to stop the run. Suggs gets one off sides call almost every game and when Smith Sr is pumped up, he can come dangerously close to getting those taunting flags. We need to play disciplined and focused and hope the refs are getting tired at how little they are paid under the table by the pats to skew the game in their favor. 

[Crusader]

  15 hours ago, Crusader said:

Dan has done fine job but remember of the 4 top 10 offenses Ravens played they only won one. Not sure how much say Dan has in the secondary but they will be tested hard Monday Night.

When you are the Defensive coordinator you have a "say" in the secondary. The secondary isn't autonomous.

That's the point. Depends on what type of person Dan is. The CB are playing so far off so who is making that call?

[billiejean]

12 hours ago, verified said:

I hope our game against the dolphins wasnt a fluke. The dolphins 2ndary cant cover everyone knows that so they played 90% zone. Even the worste QBS can have big games throwing against a zone. But the pats will man up and I hope its not the same ol story for us were our WR can get off the line in press coverage

You nailed it. I wasn't going to bring up Miamis zone until after the Patriots game, and only if our offense struggled during the game.  Sometimes ignorance is bliss.  But I am worried about the same thing, especially because it was such an anomaly.  I have never seen our offense be so successful and at the same time be so unbalanced, and Miamis zone (extremely soft zone at that) had something to do with it.  I am not taking anything away from Joe or the receivers because they were all on the same page and you could tell.  Joe knew where the weak spots in the zone were (as did the receivers) and he was extremely accurate in leading the receivers to those spots, so they could gain yards after the catch.  The TD to Perriman was a great example of that, and really almost every completion was a great example of that, even the check downs.  The offensive line had the best game that it has played all season, which also contributed to the success of the offense.  That said I still think the Ravens offense can and will be successful against the Patriots, but if people are expecting the same type of game plan that was implemented last week they are going to be disappointed.  The offense is going to have to be a lot more balanced than what it was a week ago in order to be successful.  And it just so happens that are OL is pretty darn good at run blocking, and we have two fine young running backs that will be up for the task.  So when Joe isn't throwing it on every down don't think its because somehow the offense has regressed from last week.  We took what the Dolphins gave us last week and we will do the same thing to the Patriots this week.

Edited December 9, 2016 by billiejean

[FloridalovesRavens]

Winning is the remedy for ALOT of issues. Given that, while Joe is doing ALOT more than just standing aloofedly in the pocket- I will temporarily refrain from needling him.
Go Ravens, Go Joe. Keep progressing!

Oh how nice of you.

[ravensdfan]

Nothing like success to calm the angry horde. So many were calling for Pees' head this off-season. While I didn't advocate that he should be fired, I would not have been upset had the team made that move. Injuries hurt this D bad over the last couple years, but it doesn't take too long before injuries start sounding more like an excuse rather than a reason.

The acquisition of Weddle, the emergence of Jernigan, the shift of Webb to S and the surprise performances from Orr and Young have transformed this defense. A lot of credit needs to go to Pees for that. Certainly we want to blame coaches when players don't meet their expectation, so when they meet or exceed that, the coaches also deserve some credit. 

But the fact remains ... we need to stay healthy. If any of our key pieces are lost here, we may not go back to being as weak as we've seen this unit in past couple years, but we'll certainly not look as dominant as we have. 

Eh so Pees gets all the credit for one season - but still the Pees' crowd wants to give him none of the blame for the other four lol Sorry but that just doesn't wash. This is his fifth season - not his first or second. It is my opinion, but I think conversations were had and his seat was getting a little hot. I think that is why he is suddenly on the field this season after chilling in the booth for the last four as well. I'm glad whatever the reason that we have an actual defense again and it's fine giving Pees credit for that - though I'd venture Weddle and Frazier should get a bulk too - but then he has to take the blame for the previous failures.

[balfan23]

19 hours ago, ravensdfan said:

Eh so Pees gets all the credit for one season - but still the Pees' crowd wants to give him none of the blame for the other four lol Sorry but that just doesn't wash. This is his fifth season - not his first or second. It is my opinion, but I think conversations were had and his seat was getting a little hot. I think that is why he is suddenly on the field this season after chilling in the booth for the last four as well. I'm glad whatever the reason that we have an actual defense again and it's fine giving Pees credit for that - though I'd venture Weddle and Frazier should get a bulk too - but then he has to take the blame for the previous failures.

Understood. I'm not sure what you saw in my post that implies I would not think that way. Giving blame for past and not giving credit for present .... as well as not giving blame for the past but giving credit for the present .. are both wrong. 

My statement that injury as a reason for poor performance started to sound like an excuse and the fact that many considered his dismissal a possibility would also indicate that I felt like he was on the hot seat. 

[sibelius]

On 12/9/2016 at 5:50 PM, ravensdfan said:

Eh so Pees gets all the credit for one season - but still the Pees' crowd wants to give him none of the blame for the other four lol Sorry but that just doesn't wash. This is his fifth season - not his first or second. It is my opinion, but I think conversations were had and his seat was getting a little hot. I think that is why he is suddenly on the field this season after chilling in the booth for the last four as well. I'm glad whatever the reason that we have an actual defense again and it's fine giving Pees credit for that - though I'd venture Weddle and Frazier should get a bulk too - but then he has to take the blame for the previous failures.

The cognitive dissonance must be brutal. You're a D fan. Your D is #1. Yes, sadly, the DC gets a lot of credit for that. 

Weddle and Frazier work for Pees. They both chose to do so. Let's enjoy it. 

[ravensdfan]

18 hours ago, sibelius said:

The cognitive dissonance must be brutal. You're a D fan. Your D is #1. Yes, sadly, the DC gets a lot of credit for that. 

Weddle and Frazier work for Pees. They both chose to do so. Let's enjoy it. 

I'm actually cool with Pees getting credit - I think Weddle has a big hand in it as well - but Pees deserves credit. I just like to point out the ridiculousness of some here who claim Pees does no wrong and blame the sun for rising in the wrong sky for the last 4 seasons - but are hollering now like all those criticizing Pees for the last 4 seasons were wrong and he deserves all the credit. It just doesn't work both ways. Give him credit for sure, but admit he's to blame for the past failures too then.

What is truly ironic is that those same people are ousting Marty as OC after only weeks lol

 

As for your little dig at the beginning - reading comprehension is your friend:
 

Quote

 

I'm glad whatever the reason that we have an actual defense again and it's fine giving Pees credit for that - though I'd venture Weddle and Frazier should get a bulk too

 

 

Edited December 12, 2016 by ravensdfan