The Baltimore Ravens defense still has a lot going for them but Dean Pees needs Brandon Williams back on the field:
The Baltimore Ravens saw Le’Veon Bell go off for 144 yards. That’s almost impressive for the Ravens defense when you consider how bad things went on Sunday. The Steelers gave Bell the ball 35 times to collect those 144 yards.
Antonio Brown was almost a non-factor in the game. Ben Roethlisberger didn’t have a monster performance. Pittsburgh attacked the Ravens defense right up the gut with their running attack.
Sam Koch punted five times. The Ravens turned the ball over three times and Pittsburgh held the football for a total of over 35 minutes of the game clock. The defense was without Brandon Williams and Brent Urban.
This could have been a blowout, but in all honesty this was a game until late in the fourth quarter. Give the defense some credit. In the worst of situations, they gave the Ravens a chance. Was it their best work? No, but it was a tough day of work for the defense.
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If Brandon Williams was able to play, this game would have been a little different. The defense would still have been put in awful situations by an atrocious offense, but they would have been more equipped to deal with it. Williams got big money from the Ravens and it is because of the impact he makes for the players around him. Williams is not only one of the best run stopping defensive tackles in football, but he is one of the best difference makers in the game.
What Williams does on the field:
Think of Williams like an immovable object. As long as he is on the field, that object is in the way of anyone who tries to get by. Williams is what we like to call in the football world, a space-eater. He plugs gaps, he takes blockers on so linebackers don’t have to. Carl Davis has the size to do the same thing, but he isn’t the Pro Bowl worthy dominant force that Williams is.
Without Williams in the mix, Michael Pierce saw a heavy dose of double teams. In the two games without Williams, Michael Pierce did not get the same kind of push and penetration. Pierce knifing through the defense bounced a lot of runs outside, which allowed the Ravens front seven to win in the backfield. In pass defense it created more chances for the Ravens outside linebackers.
The Bottom Line:
It’s the combination of two great defensive tackles that makes everything so good for the Ravens defensive line. Without Williams, the defense doesn’t fall apart but it isn’t the same. It’s like headphones that all of the sudden only play sound through one ear bud. Williams makes players around him better. It’s not just his stellar play that the Ravens are missing, it’s the stellar play he allows other players to have.
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The bottom line is the Ravens front seven needs Williams to be dominant. If the Ravens can’t own the line of scrimmage, they can’t have the turnover bonanza they were having in the first two weeks. Williams is a great player whose stats don’t tell you what you need to know about his impact. The only good thing about him missing time is that the Ravens get to see just how right they were to invest in Williams.