Ravens beat Broncos 27-14: Story of the game lies within the defense

When the going gets tough, the tough get going! And this was especially true Sunday afternoon when the Ravens defense stepped up to take down the Broncos.

We look at the final score of the game and see a Baltimore Ravens 27-14 victory over the Denver Broncos. How quickly we forget the Ravens gave up those 14 points within the first quarter of the football game. The Ravens defense looked lost and couldn’t stop a nose bleed. Not exactly the performance you’d be hoping for in front of Baltimore legend Ray Lewis.

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But then the tides changed in a hurry. Suddenly, the Ravens defense was swarming to the ball and limiting yardage. The team was getting sacks and forcing turnovers. From top-to-bottom, it appeared that an entirely new Ravens defense had taken the field and was prepared to take over this game.

Even with C.J. Mosley out of the fold this week due to injury, the rest of the linebackers all rose to the occasion. Rookie Kenny Young led the team with 10 tackles (eight solo) while Patrick Onwuasor nabbed his first career interception and nearly took it back for six, if not for a “Block in the Back” penalty called on teammate Matt Judon.

The pass rush nabbed three total sacks, including 1.5 by veteran Terrell Suggs. Za’Darius Smith gave his best Ray Lewis impression following his own sack. The pass rush was much more lively against the Broncos than against the Bengals, hopefully a trend we will see continue moving forward.

Broncos quarterback Case Keenum was kept off-balance all game long thanks to pressure upfront and good coverage on the back-end. Emmanuel Sanders’ “big game” was capitalized on a first quarter sweep that resulted in a 35-yard touchdown. Besides this, Sanders was held in-check and left with under 10.0 YPR. Demaryius Thomas was solid, but the Ravens limited him as well. Rookie running back Royce Freeman made Baltimore pay early, but surprise surprise, the Ravens defense bit down and suffocated the Broncos offense.

It was a porous performance for the Broncos offense after the first quarter of the game, but Baltimore’s defense certainly came to play with an edge and changed the script in a hurry. This is the Ravens defense we were hoping to see all summer long headed into 2018. We can assume that week two’s performance was an anomaly for now.

The Baltimore Ravens identity has always been backed by a strong defense. If the Ravens can get this kind of grit and determination on a weekly basis, there’s little reason to believe they can’t shock the world in 2018.