Baltimore Ravens: A Lacking Pass Rush Is Concerning

The Pass rush just isn’t making a big enough impact for the Baltimore Ravens:

Defense has always been one of the strengths for the Baltimore Ravens. They won Super Bowl XXXV completely on defense. But lately, the defense hasn’t been as dominant.  To have a stout defense, it starts up front. It starts with with the pass rushers.  When Rex Ryan was the defensive coordinator, the defense called themselves “organized chaos” because you never knew who was going to be blitzing on any given play.

Maybe it’s the way that Dean Pees coaches, but his style is a little more conservative.  I think he’s afraid to blitz often because he doesn’t want to expose the secondary. It is a secondary which has had a lot of injuries lately.  The Ravens have a lot of talent on the defensive line with Brandon Williams and Timmy Jernigan. They have Brent Urban and Lawrence Guy.

Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil are dealing with injuries. However with the emphasis on pass rush in the last few drafts, this should be a strength for the Ravens. It is a major concern for Ozzie Newsome that the players he’s brought in haven’t panned out yet. With the Ravens veteran outside linebackers banged up, the young players need to step up.

Next: Abandoning The Run Is Killing The Baltimore Ravens

Pees will need to make some changes during the bye week if he expects the defense to do better.  He needs to call more blitzes to ramp up the pressure. No more having the corner’s play 10 yards off of the Wide Receiver at the beginning of the snap.  The Ravens corners need to be aggressive. If the Ravens crank up the pass rush, the quarterback will have no time to find an open receiver. The more pressure, the better off the Ravens defense will be in hopes of making the playoffs again.