Baltimore Ravens: Defense has shown us nothing’s changed

An ongoing theme for the Baltimore Ravens is the defense collapsing when it matters most, and that was no different vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.

Terrell Suggs. C.J. Mosley. Eric Weddle. Brandon Williams. Marlon Humphrey. So on, and so forth.

These are the names and the players that the Baltimore Ravens have entrusted their defense to. These men are supposed to hold the defense to the highest of standards. With the history of the Baltimore Ravens, sub-par defense is simply unacceptable. Fans expect greatness, just as the organization does. With some of these players being perennial Pro Bowlers, it seems like a forgone conclusion that this defense is as good as it gets. And you’d be right, to a certain extent.

This Ravens defense entered week 14 near the top in just about every statistical category that matters defensively. The team was getting sacks and limiting yards to their opponents, embarrassing teams from week-to-week. The only thing seemingly missing was the turnovers.

But, we were wrong. It turns out the defense is missing the most important aspect of being dominant: backbone.

It goes back beyond 2018, however. We all remember the 2016 Christmas Day heartbreaking touchdown from Antonio Brown. Or the horrid 4th down conversion vs. the Cincinnati Bengals in 2017. Thus far this season, the 2018 Ravens defense has been bent over backwards on more than one occasion.

Baltimore’s defense has looked so dang dominant on a weekly basis, but when push comes to shove they disappear in the big moments. The defense softened up vs. the New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, and Pittsburgh Steelers before the team’s bye-week, resulting in three-straight losses. Then, Lamar Jackson became the starting quarterback and it seemed the tides had started to change. Alas, we were fooled.