OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Growing pains were anticipated elsewhere on the Baltimore Ravens’ defense. The offseason departure of Jadeveon Clowney left the team counting on its young outside linebackers to improve quickly. Second-year inside linebacker Trenton Simpson, who barely played as a rookie, was tasked with replacing four-year starter and 2023 Pro Bowl selection Patrick Queen.
But the secondary? That was touted as the backbone of the Ravens’ defense and its overriding strength. That was the group that returned all of its starters, featured a handful of first-round picks, a few accomplished veterans with hefty contracts and a preseason Defensive Player of the Year candidate in safety Kyle Hamilton.
Baltimore’s ability to maintain one of the top defenses in the league despite the loss of coordinator Mike Macdonald and several highly regarded assistants, and the offseason exits of Clowney, Queen, safety Geno Stone and other contributors, rested partly on the shoulders of a deep and talented secondary playing to its potential.
Through two games, it hasn’t.
“The secondary overall is on track, but we’re not consistent,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said.
Baltimore’s 0-2 start heading into Sunday’s key road game against the Dallas Cowboys has spurred all sorts of introspection. A few of the team’s issues amid its worst start since 2015 were relatively easy to predict. Did anyone not foresee an inexperienced offensive line with three new starters struggling to block Chris Jones and Maxx Crosby? Did anyone not expect a learning curve for first-year defensive coordinator Zach Orr?
Other early shortcomings have been less foreseeable, like the pass defense’s prominent role in the two losses. It’s not that the Ravens’ secondary has played terribly. It’s just sprung leaks at inopportune times behind a run defense that has been the stingiest in the league through two weeks and a pass rush that has mostly done its part with seven sacks.
“I don’t want to say it’s the little things holding us back, because the little things turn into big things,” cornerback Brandon Stephens said after Wednesday’s practice. “We’ve just got to focus on closing out games. We start fast and we just have to finish stronger. That’s where we’ve been lacking the past two games.”
In Week 1, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs exploited the Ravens in the middle of the field. When that was shored up, the Chiefs took advantage of a coverage bust by Hamilton to score the eventual winning touchdown with Mahomes connecting with rookie Xavier Worthy for an uncontested 35-yard score.
On Sunday, the Las Vegas Raiders erased two 10-point deficits as journeyman quarterback Gardner Minshew II drove his team up and down the field over the game’s final 20 minutes while relying exclusively on the pass. The Ravens’ much ballyhooed secondary couldn’t stop Minshew, who threw for 212 yards and a touchdown in the second half alone, from finding star wide receiver Davante Adams and rookie first-round tight end Brock Bowers.
Starting cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey and Stephens struggled against Adams. The safety combination of Hamilton, Marcus Williams and Eddie Jackson wasn’t able to take away Bowers, either. It was pretty obvious over the Raiders’ final four drives who Minshew was targeting, and the Ravens were powerless to stop it.
Brock making it happen! #LVvsBAL | 📺 @ParamountPlus pic.twitter.com/kcKRRfwlfD
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) September 15, 2024
“We can play coverages better,” Harbaugh said. “Sometimes it’s a one-on-one thing where they make a good play. … There’s other plays where we don’t play it as well as we could. We’re not in position, we don’t see it quite the same way, we react a little late — there’s a few completions that way that happened, especially down the stretch in the two-minute stuff.”
Harbaugh was quick to point out that the team’s pass defense doesn’t fall solely on the defensive backs. The pass rush needs to sync up with the coverage. There have been times over the first two weeks when the Ravens have allowed quarterbacks to get out of the pocket, which puts their defensive backs in a vulnerable position. Tight end Travis Kelce’s lone big play in Week 1, a 23-yard completion, was a result of Mahomes buying time with his legs. Defensive backs can only cover for so long.
Baltimore’s inside linebackers also have coverage responsibilities, and Kansas City took advantage of that group by isolating them against wide receivers in the middle of the field. Middle linebacker Roquan Smith hardly stood a chance against Rashee Rice.
“Everybody takes responsibility for pass defense, across the board,” Harbaugh said.
In that case, there’s a lot to fix. Through two weeks, the Ravens have allowed the most passing yards in the NFL (257 per game). They’re also allowing the league’s third-highest completion percentage (75.8) and yards per attempt (8.6), and the ninth-highest quarterback rating (98.5).
They’ve already watched two receivers (Adams, Rice) eclipse the 100-yard mark — Bowers finished just 2 yards shy on Sunday — after permitting only six pass catchers to accomplish that against their defense in 17 regular-season games last year.
It’s still a very small sample size, but everything is magnified when you’re 0-2. Another loss this Sunday would seriously jeopardize the team’s playoff hopes before the calendar even turns to October.
It’s also probably been more noticeable because this year’s defense had such a tough act to follow. Last season, the Ravens captured the defensive triple crown, becoming the first team in league history to lead the league in points allowed per game, takeaways and sacks. The 2023 Ravens permitted the sixth-fewest passing yards per game (191.9), the lowest yards per attempt (5.9) and quarterback rating (70.6), and the fifth-lowest completion percentage (60.6).
That group, however, didn’t return intact. Clowney, who finished with 9 1/2 sacks, certainly impacted quarterbacks on a weekly basis. Queen’s coverage skills improved throughout his stay in Baltimore. Stone, who made 11 starts last year for an injury-plagued Williams, led the AFC with seven interceptions. Veteran cornerback Ronald Darby had a strong year filling in for a hobbled Humphrey. All four are playing elsewhere. Defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson, regarded as one of the top secondary coaches in football, left after one season to become the Tennessee Titans’ defensive coordinator.
Still, much was expected with Humphrey, a three-time Pro Bowler, and Williams healthy again, Stephens coming off a breakout year and Hamilton being named a first-team All-Pro last season. The Ravens added to their perceived strength by signing Jackson, a two-time Pro Bowler, to replace Stone as the No. 3 safety and using a first-round pick on cornerback Nate Wiggins and a fourth-rounder on cornerback T.J. Tampa.
Arthur Maulet remains on injured reserve after getting arthroscopic knee surgery during training camp. Wiggins could miss his second consecutive game after getting into a car accident last week. He’s in concussion protocol. Hamilton didn’t practice Wednesday because of what the team said was a back injury. He looked compromised at different points of Sunday’s loss to the Raiders and has had a quiet start to the season.
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Still, the Ravens have more than enough talent and experience available to prevent some of the breakdowns that have cost them the first two weeks. With a matchup set for Sunday against Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and the Cowboys, it would be a good time to start showing it.
“We just can’t continue to go out there and beat ourselves,” Jackson said following Sunday’s game. “We work too hard. We put the work in. So when we go out there, we’ve got to capitalize on certain situations, get the ball out, get lined up and just play our technique.”
(Photo of Davante Adams and Marlon Humphrey: Mark Goldman / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
