Ravens defense may be out of wake up calls after meltdown vs. Bengals

Take a double-digit lead in the first half, blow that double-digit lead in the second half. Clockwork. The Baltimore Ravens defense pitched a shutout in the first half of Sunday’s loss, but the Cincinnati Bengals walloped them for 35 in the second half.

It was a collapse that was all-too-predictable.

Every week, these games should be wake-up calls. Key words: should be. The truth is, the defense doesn’t learn from its mistakes. Even in their strong Week 6 showing, the defense made a disastrous coverage error late in the game that led to the loss.

Despite all the encouraging signs shown last Sunday, they fell back on their old ways against Cincinnati. Week 7 made it two straight weeks with a blown double-digit point lead, and 10th since 2022.

This can’t keep happening. At some point, it’s not a wake-up call anymore. It’s just who they are.

Baltimore Ravens’ defense is reaching its breaking point after Week 7 loss

The Baltimore Ravens’ identity used to be defense. For years, they had not just great defenses, but some of the best defenses the NFL has ever seen. Unfortunately, that’s a distant memory.

The smack-you-in-the-mouth, physical brand of Baltimore defense is gone. They have some great players, and guys like Kyle Hamilton can make statement-making plays, but the unit lacks energy for all four quarters. There aren’t many tone-setters; too many starters play too passively, especially when they start playing with a lead.

Once you take a lead, that should be the opportunity to bury the opponent into oblivion on defense. Instead, it feels like the Ravens sit back on their heels, and when they turn up the aggressiveness, they play foolishly.

Whatever that was in the second half, it may have been the most miserable the defense has ever looked. It didn’t look like they were playing tackle football; it looked like they were back on the playground playing two-hand touch.

After the game, Calais Campbell compared the unit’s second-half showing to quicksand.

“The first half, I felt like we were making plays, and once momentum got away from us, it was like quicksand,” Campbell said. “It went fast, and looking up, it’s like ‘Wow, it’s 35-13.’”

The story of the second half was missed tackles and soft coverage. In the open field, everyone was missing tackles, including this one by both Malaki Starks and Marlon Humphrey on Ja’Marr Chase.

You can watch that 1 million times and still think: How did professional football players allow Chase to get out of that? I get Chase is a superstar, but that’s embarrassing for what should be core pieces on Jesse Minter’s unit.

The pass rush also doesn’t know how to wrap up consistently. Their technique is flawed. They don’t come to balance when baring down on a quarterback and seemingly always try to fly in at full force and dive at the lower body. More often than not, they miss out on easy sacks.

And as for the coverage, Baltimore can’t stop Joe Burrow. They had him in the first half, but halftime adjustments had him looking like Superman. Big plays were aplenty, as he finished with 292 passing yards and 4 touchdowns. Chase and Tee Higgins also had the secondary’s number like they always do, dialing up several huge gains.

In most cases, you wouldn’t be mad about the Bengals hanging 35 points on the Ravens. Fans expect that. That’s an uber-talented group on the other side of the ball. It’s the manner in which it happened, though.

35 unanswered when you were leading by 13 is outrageously bad. And it speaks to the defense’s psyche. Something about their mentality leads to these mistakes, and it’s gotten to the point where they may never escape the late-game ghost.

You have to give Jesse Minter time. Even the Mike Macdonald-led defense was suspect early in 2023. However, many of these aren’t even Minter mistakes; they’re blunders by the players.

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