Ravens: Top 5 takeaways from Week 1 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders

5. The Ravens secondary struggled, but should still be fine

In the first half, the secondary played lights out. They limited big plays from the Raiders and kept the ball out of Darren Waller’s hands. However, as the game wore on, Derek Carr started to figure Baltimore’s blitz schemes.

He consistently found the 1-on-1 matchup that he liked and got the ball to the right receivers. Waller and Renfrow feasted in the second half.

They played a lot of Cover 0, which left the Ravens corners on an island. The rush didn’t get home in the fourth quarter and overtime. Too many times Derek Carr just stood back and launched bombs to receivers down the field.

Because the pass rush took too long, Ravens’ cornerbacks could not maintain good coverage. 5-8 seconds in single-man coverage without any safety help is too much to ask consistently from your defenders.

With today’s rules, NFL receivers are too good to be covered that long.

After this game, the instant reaction may be that their secondary is vulnerable. However, when any cornerback is asked to shadow receivers for that insane amount of time, that screams disaster.

With Jimmy Smith coming back soon, the secondary should be better moving forward. Marlon Humphrey was outstanding on Monday night and is still one of the premier young corners in this league.

Another note is that Anthony Averett played a good game as well. He was very good in coverage and picked off Derek Carr in the endzone during overtime. While it was a fluke play, he still recorded his first career interception on a huge drive.

Even without Marcus Peters, this is still a very good secondary. If the Ravens can figure out the answers to their dormant pass rush, then their defense will be just fine.