OTL: Another Win Marred by Embarrassing Defense

It was another 2024 Ravens win. They are sitting pretty right with a 7-3 record and a mini-bye to prepare for the upcoming Steelers. They swept the Bengals for the second straight year, and we should be on top of the world right now. We, as fans, should celebrate an excellent team with one of the best offenses ever to step foot on the football field. Unfortunately, we can’t do that right now because on the other side is another historic unit in the opposite way.

This Ravens defense is b-a-d. If you watched one game from this year, you would see that. They really haven’t had a complete game all year. Even in their best games, they still give up a ton of yards. At worst, this defense is bend-but-don’t-break; at worst, it is an unwatchable blob of a unit that has no idea what is going on.

And no, Kyle Hamilton’s absence isn’t an excuse; they were getting burned badly even when he was in the game.

Kyle Hamilton isn’t fixing things like this:

JA’MARR CHASE SCORED DESPITE BEING SURROUNDED BY 5 DEFENDERS.

(h/t @TannerPhifer) pic.twitter.com/iSYdSLqvjj

— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) November 8, 2024

What is even going on in the meetings? “Ok, guys, five defenders are around Chase; someone has to make a tackle here?” What a joke.

At this point, one has to wonder who is even in charge of the defense. The blown deep coverages are a shared blame between the players and caches, but there is something I found interesting:

Dean Pees

We screamed at CJ Mosley for years about that. https://t.co/iNTJaScGem

— Cole Jackson (@ColeJacksonFB) November 8, 2024

So now it is a shared issue. The middle of the field used to be a death sentence with Mike Mac last year; now, it is a free ticket to heaven for opposing offenses.

It truly is sad to think about just how bad things have gotten. I don’t know what the fix is, either. They have a DC who is in over his head right now. I like Orr, but he feels like a panic move because he was going to take Seattle’s Linebacker coach job and leave with Mike Mac, so fearing losing even more people, they gave him the job. I blame John Harbaugh & Eric DeCosta for this as well. You’re telling me you couldn’t have brought back one of MacDonald, Anthony Weaver, or Dennard Wilson? If MacDonald must go, then so be it. The Ravens weren’t making him the head coach (as much as it would have made perfect sense), but did you have to let the other two walk out the door? Just make one of them the coordinator.

This is crying over spilled milk, so what’s the fix? Well, It actually happens to be something simple:

Play. More. Man. Coverage.

Die with someone within 5 yards https://t.co/Mmgc46u1pK

— Spencer Schultz (@ravens4dummies) November 8, 2024

So, I’m going by the numbers with this theory of man over the zone. The Bengals went 7-for-19 for 60 yards and one touchdown against man coverage. That’s respectable!. Here’s where it gets bad: The Bengals annihilated the Ravens’ zone scheme with 27-for-37 for 368 yards and three touchdowns. At any level, from pee wee football to the NFL, that is unacceptable.

So why aren’t they running more man than? Your guess is as good as mine. I have no idea why they try to run these complicated zone schemes when they show they can’t, so the fix is to keep it simple. The zone scheme worked for Mike Mac, but it is not working for Orr, and he needs to find himself. Orr needs to see what makes him so unique as a DC and what wrinkles he brings to this defense. What is sad is that I think he is trying to be Dean Pees Jr., but in doing so, he doesn’t have a clear identity, and he is lost, just like this defense.

I think Marlon Humphrey said it best:

Marlon Humphrey called the defense the “little brothers” of the team. Quite a statement from one of the leaders of a struggling unit.

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) November 8, 2024

It doesn’t feel like the Ravens are 7-3, does it? Sure, “a win is a win,” but for the last ten weeks, this defense has been a terrible stain on what should be a year of celebration. We should be crowning the team as the class of AFC, but we can’t do that right now because of that side of the ball.

The honeymoon period is over for Zach Orr. It is time to get his defense fixed. Unfortunately, I don’t know if he knows how to do that.

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