As teams ready for Week 2 of the NFL season, the Baltimore Ravens are one team with a ton to prove. Everyone knows they have an elite offense, but the defense faced turmoil in Week 1. The unit was predicted to be one of the best this year, and they are quickly looking like one of the worst.
Baltimore gave up 497 total yards against the Buffalo Bills (389 passing and 108 rushing). They also sacked Josh Allen just one time and failed to get a takeaway. Their fourth-quarter performance was horrific, and ahead of their game with the Cleveland Browns, they are adopting a no-nonsense mentality.
All-Pro cornerback Marlon Humphrey met with the media on Wednesday and did not hold back on self-critiquing himself and the defense. He knows they have to be better, especially after the offense put up 40 points. By the way Humphrey made it sound, Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr will not shy away from benching players if needed.
“[Zach Orr] made it very clear. We’re not going to be repeat offenders,” Humphrey said. “It’s not going to be a situation where someone's been doing something wrong and nothing gets said…If you’re doing things right you’re going to play, and if you’re not doing things right, you’re not going to play. We’re not going to get to a situation similar to last year.”
Humphrey added that the team is too talented to make the costly mistakes seen in Week 1, and they will not try to mask over and protect those making errors like they did at times in 2024.
Exposed Ravens defense refocuses with no-nonsense mentality ahead of Week 2
Baltimore’s Week 2 matchup with the Browns is the perfect opportunity to turn the ship around. It should already be an intense divisional matchup, but the Ravens are also coming in angry. By all accounts, they are not going to take that one late-game collapse lightly, and they are looking to prove themselves on Sunday.
In terms of where Baltimore must improve on defense, the answer is everywhere. They failed on all three levels against the Bills. The secondary got torched, the pass rush failed to get home and was undisciplined, and the linebacker group failed to make open-field tackles on numerous occasions.
The team has to clean those areas up, as although Cleveland is expected to be a bottom-tier team in 2025, they kicked off the year in a competitive way, losing by just one point to the Cincinnati Bengals. They have a strong offensive line and electrifying playmakers like Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku, who can gash the secondary for big plays. A win will not be easy.
It is great to see this approach from a Ravens defense that has the potential to be elite in 2025. If they can put it together, they should be unstoppable.