The title of this post might leave some people wondering how I could use dominance and Ravens defense in the same sentence right now. They allowed the Steelers to rush for 134 yards and let Byron Leftwich run the ball in for a touchdown from 31 yards out. The Ravens have, however, gone 3 games without allowing a single touchdown when opposing teams have been in the redzone, and they're the best team in the NFL by far in redzone defense. This has all taken place without Lardarius Webb, without Ray Lewis, and even without a healthy Pernell McPhee (please note that the pass rush will likely improve further as Mcphee will hopefully return to the field next week against the Chargers). On top of all of that, the Ravens have tightened up to be a top ten defense in points allowed (9th). One might wonder how the Ravens have been able to achieve such improvements with major losses in defensive personnel. Let's take a look, shall we?
Terrell Suggs is not yet at his form from last season. He only has a 13 tackles and a single sack in 4 games back. Last night he admitted that his achilles must not have been quite as good as he originally thought after he failed to run down Byron Leftwich who then took off for a 31 yard touchdown run. With that said, Suggs physical presence helps to stuff the run and forces teams to use two blockers to handle him. You combine that with Haloti Ngata's improved health, and suddenly even if Ngata and Suggs aren't getting to the QB, they force teams to account for them, and that makes way for Paul Kruger and company to rush the passer. Fortunately, Haloti Ngata did have a sack last night, and it appears as though his injuries are mostly healed or at least greatly improved. Pernell McPhee reported feeling 100 percent in practice last week, but was held out against the Steelers. Hopefully he'll be ready to go and will be back to his old, high-motor form of last year that added 6 sacks to the Ravens' season sack total.
The improved Ravens pass rush helped the secondary keep the ball out of the hands of some of the fastest deep threats in the NFL, but the secondary deserves a lot of credit for stepping up in the absence of its most talented cornerback (Webb...not Jimmy Smith). Corey Graham had a beautiful interception to kill a Steelers drive that could have tied the game or given the Steelers the lead. After missing a tackle on Byron Leftwich early on, Pollard returned to wrecking ball form that he utilized to helped stop another late drive with a huge hit that dislodged the ball from Jericho Cotchery's hands. Ed Reed recovered a fumble and then hurdled a tackler on a nice return to set up a Ravens field goal that took momentum away from the Steelers. Cary Williams looked great in pass coverage numerous times, and most certainly should not have been flagged for pass interference on the first pass of the game for minimal contact with the receiver before diving to bat the pass down. Let's also not forget James Ihedigbo's punishing sack late in the game to help crush Pittsburgh's hopes of a late game comeback.
The only area that the Ravens struggled to defend was the run. They allowed 134 yards on the ground and one rushing TD. With that said, they kept the Steelers' running backs out of the endzone and allowed far less rushing yardage than in many of their previous games. Let's not forget how the Chiefs and Cowboys absolutely gashed the Ravens on the ground. Let's also not forget how good the Steelers running game has looked for the past 6 games before last night, and that makes the Ravens defensive performance still appear to be a great improvement.
The Ravens will have their hands full next week in San Diego. Yes, the Chargers have only won two of their last eight games, and both of those wins came against the Chiefs. The Chargers have, however, averaged 22 points per game in their last 6 games, and that's significantly more points than the Ravens have averaged on the road this season. The Ravens are going to have to keep Philip Rivers and company out of the endzone and find away to get an offensive rhythm going against a Chargers defense that is ranked 3rd in the NFL against the run. This does not mean that they should keep the ball out of Ray Rice's hands. On the contrary, they're going to need to put it in his hands frequently to open things up for the pass. The Chargers don't have an amazing pass defense and they've allowed 21.25 points per game at home this season, but they've only played 4 home games thus far, and two have been against high-flying pass offenses led by Peyton Manning and Matt Ryan. It's now on Cam Cameron to put together a game plan to exploit a 23rd ranked Chargers pass defense and secure another road victory before the Steelers come to Baltimore. If the Ravens defense plays as well next week as they did last night, then the Ravens should be in good position to win. At 8-2, I think it's time people starting betting on Baltimore. AS ALWAYS GO RAVENS!!!
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