3 players who led to Ravens to victory against the Chicago Bears in Week 11

1. Tyus Bowser, OLB, Ravens

With Matthew Judon and Yannick Ngakoue leaving this offseason, Tyus Bowser has been looked upon to become a new leader on this defense.

He went from being a contributor last year to being one of the veterans in a very young edge rusher group.

However, many people still had questions about the Ravens pass rush this season. Bowser set a career-high in sacks last year with five, but the Ravens need more from him with their offseason departures.

We are just halfway through the season and Bowser already has 4.5 sacks. That may be disappointing to some fans seeing how Judon is performing in New England right now, however, there is more context to it.

Bowser has taken over Judon’s responsibilities in Baltimore therefore he is not just asked to rush the passer.

Judon, on the other hand, is no longer asked to drop in coverage as much, therefore he’s getting more opportunities to go after the passer.

Bowser is an incredible athlete just like Judon, therefore the Ravens ask him to drop in coverage a lot.

Bowser showed off his hands last season with three interceptions. So the fact that Bowser already has 4.5 sacks this season is a good sign because he is an all-around linebacker. As I mentioned earlier, his previous career-high was five so he is already showing improvement.

Even Judon’s best season in Baltimore resulted in 9.5 sacks, so if Bowser gets around that number, then the Ravens are more than satisfied.

Bowser has two games this season with at least two sacks including yesterday against Chicago. That shows when the Ravens commit to having Bowser rush the passer, he can be very disruptive.

Both of Bowser’s sacks yesterday came at important times.

His first was a strip-sack that led to a field goal. His last one was the play that sealed the game. Andy Dalton has been known as the “Raven Killer,” so it was good to see Bowser eliminate any chance of a miracle happening.