OTL: How About Zach Orr’s Defense?!

What an exciting sequence of events these last couple of weeks have been. Looking down the barrel of a potential lost season after the poor performance against the Eagles and a stretch of three games in eleven days with multiple division leaders on the docket, things were looking a bit gloom and doom for the Ravens. Now, after three straight wins, they control their destiny to win the division and earn a home playoff game.

Many have had a hand in this fortuitous turnaround.

There’s Lamar Jackson and his MVP-caliber season that has talking heads all over the internet in raging debates.

There’s Justin Tucker remembering that he’s Justin Tucker.

There’s the team’s very good overall health, and that nicely-timed late bye week.

While those all contributed in their own ways, the biggest reason this season has turned around, to me, is because of what Zach Orr has done with the defense and how much things have improved on that side of the ball since October.

I’ll always take the opportunity to shoutout Zach Orr. Dude been battling adversity since September and man did he ever lock in. Has this Ravens defense flying around.

— RAMEY (@HoodieRamey) December 26, 2024

I’ll be focusing on the defense today. The MVP talk is exhausting and you can get that anywhere.

Orr’s improvements, though, have gone largely unnoticed by the national media and public at large outside of a few Ravens fans.

So the question is, how did this happen? Well, I have noticed that they have gotten more clutch down during this stretch of games. This means that on “money” downs (3rd and 4th), they are buckling up their chin straps and going to work.

The Texans on 3rd down: 4/15
The Texans on 4th down: 0/2 (0/3 cause that wasn’t DPI)

Zach Orr had them dudes buzzing! #RavensFlock

— Cole Jackson (@ColeJacksonFB) December 26, 2024

This is something fundamental; it instills confidence in me. Confidence on defense will usually lead to success, and when defenses have good games, teams win.

Confidence and scheme can only lead you so far though. Eventually, it comes down to the Jimmys and Joes over the X’s and O’s.

This is why two players in particular stand out, who have led to the defense improving, and they play the same position.

Ar’Darius Washington and Kyle Hamilton’s impact are why we are even discussing this turnaround today.

Let’s look at Washington first. He replaced Eddie Jackson, who replaced Marcus Williams, and since the team released Jackson, Washington has been nails. His tackling, coverage, instincts, awareness and more are worlds better than what we saw from his predecessors early in the year.

Remember that confidence factor? Well, he just oozes that, and on Christmas he made the play of the night (and, as Spenny points out, that was just a few days after his huge forced fumble against Pittsburgh):

This is the second week in a row (lol both in 4 days) that @ad_washington24 has delivered a FATALITY like Mortal Kombat to save a touchdown and generate a turnover.

Size is not a skill. Watch the forward drive, legs, head placement on both. Textbook https://t.co/65zNuMnaI8

— Spencer Schultz (@ravens4dummies) December 26, 2024

Washington is a huge reason we are even talking about this improvement.

However, we really have to bring up what Hamilton is doing.

While he was never really used as a deep safety before this year, he has been just as impactful playing a different role. We may never know why Williams was a complete joke this year, but we all know he was awful and needed to be replaced. Here is how Hamilton has been doing as a deep safety:

Kyle Hamilton is outstanding – always has been. Hamilton is on pace to earn elite PFF grades in four grading categories this season:

89.6 Coverage
89.9 Pass Rush
90.2 Run Defense
90.5 Overall Grade https://t.co/BrJF2kKRrU

— All-22 (@All22_PFF) December 26, 2024

Jackson and Williams were stains on this defense, and replacing them with Washington and Hamilton has been a huge reason for this turnaround.

Less heralded contributions abound as well. Getting Michael Pierce back and Travis Jones being able to rest his ankle over the bye week has improved the run defense. Replacing many of Trenton Simpson‘s snaps with Chris Board has simplified things for Roquan Smith and improved the ILB play markedly.

They still have things to figure out, like Brandon Stephens drawing inopportune flags when targeted down the sideline. Here’s the thing: Orr has managed to work around that. We also need to throw some respect to Dean Pees, though we aren’t sure how much he has helped exactly.

Here is what is known: this defense is great now, thanks to players shuffling and new pieces jelling, and seeing how they do in the playoffs will be fun.

The Ravens control their destinies, but they wouldn’t be sniffing that without Orr or the players who stepped up when called upon.

The post OTL: How About Zach Orr’s Defense?! appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/12/27/out-to-lunch/zach-orr-turnaround/