The Baltimore Ravens suffered a heartbreaking loss last Sunday. With their playoff hopes hanging in the balance, they could not secure a much-needed win, losing to the New England Patriots in Week 16.
The Ravens fell two games behind the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North after they defeated the Detroit Lions. Now, they need a ton of help heading into the final two weeks of the 2025 regular season.
The team’s Sunday Night Football loss could not have been more gut-wrenching. They held an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter, but a combination of several factors led to another blown lead. The offensive game planning and lack of Derrick Henry were at the forefront of the problems, but Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr also fell back on his early 2025 ways.
The pass rush was silent as it has been for most of the year. However, the big play limitation was gone. After chunk play after chunk play, the floodgates finally opened, leading to an embarrassing loss.
The reason for the defense’s collapse could not have been clearer: an overemphasis on stopping the run and a lack of aggressiveness up front. Orr needs to change this, not only if the Ravens want a faint shot at the playoffs in the coming weeks, but if he wants to keep his job.
Zach Orr must give up the run-stop-first philosophy
Orr has the tendency to overload on nose tackles on his defensive line. Sure, the presence of defensive tackles Travis Jones, John Jenkins, Brent Urban, and Josh Tupou can eat up blocks and free up linebackers Roquan Smith and Trenton Simpson, but the pass rush is suffering significantly. Against a high-powered passing attack in New England, that philosophy backfired heavily.
Baltimore’s pass rush, which ranks tied for 28th in the NFL in sacks with 26, was a non-factor on a wide majority of Drake Maye’s dropbacks. The defense did tally three sacks, but on Maye’s 44 pass attempts, they failed to generate consistent pressure. As a result, he diced Orr’s defense up for 380 yards and two touchdowns.
Outside linebackers Dre’Mont Jones and Mike Green did find some success firing in off the edge. The problem was the lack of push on the interior, though. Time and time again, Maye could step up into a clean pocket and make an easy throw. It did not matter how often Baltimore’s edge rushers found space along the edge. There was little to no pressure in the middle.
An answer to this could be activating rookie defensive tackle Aeneas Peebles over a player like Tupou. You can never expect too much from a rookie, but given the team’s atrocious pressure rate, it could not hurt to let a quick, pass-rush-focused defensive tackle get a moment to shine.
With two games to go, Orr must switch up his gameplan and show promise if he wants to keep his job.