A Horned Frog Takes the Cake!

The Ravens advanced to (7-3) on the season and they are now one Washington Commanders victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday from securing first place in the AFC North. To earn that spot in the division, the Ravens have won 7 of their last 8 games. It hasn’t always been pretty on the defensive side of the ball. Zach Orr’s unit has been heavily criticized and the squad has earned every one of the indictments. But a few players have bucked the undesirable trend of underachievement this season. One of them is Ar’Darius Washington.

The Shreveport, LA native made his way to Baltimore via TCU as an undrafted free agent in 2021. Ar’Darius plays bigger than his 5’8”, 180-pound frame would suggest. During his college career Washington demonstrated great instincts. He was quicker than he was fast, but those quicks combined with his innate aggression and awareness ushered in a playmaker from the Horned Frogs at Texas Christian University.

Ar’Darius was projected to be a 6th or 7th round pick but concern over his size and lack of top end speed didn’t inspire a single NFL war room to turn in a card with the name Ar’Darius Washington. But that never deterred his ambition to play in the league. He traded in his purple Horned Frogs jersey for that of the Ravens.

Washington has bounced back and forth between the active 53 and the practice squad but now, given the extreme struggles the team is experiencing at the position of safety, Ar’Darius is taking advantage of an opportunity. He will struggle at times on the deep back end if matched up against a receiver with length. He may get overpowered inside the numbers when asked to check a much bigger tight end. But those challenges never dampen his spirit and seemingly the daunting tasks ignite his competitive nature.

On Thursday night, the Bengals offense had its way with the Ravens. Joe Burrow threw for 428 yards but if not for the efforts of Ar’Darius it could have been more. He had two key passes defensed, one to deny another Bengals first down and of course there was the PD of paramount importance that denied the Bengals a two-point conversion and potential victory. Ar’Darius was beaten on a couple of throws to tight ends but despite giving 70 pounds, he dropped the receivers immediately, mitigating any potentially damaging YAC.

Simply put Ar’Darius Washington plays like a Raven and despite the ineptness of the overall defensive performance, the under-sized dynamo was anything but, and therefore, deserving of The Jimmy’s Famous Seafood Big Crab Cake award for the game’s unsung hero.

[Related Article: The Good, Bad & Ugly vs. Bengals, Week 10]

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