Roquan Smith after clinching postseason: "We bend, don't break"

The Baltimore Ravens (11-3) stayed atop the AFC conference standings thanks to their Sunday Night Football win against the Jaguars, 23-7 on the road. Not only did they beat the AFC South leaders, but they limited the Jaguars offense to 333 yards, 65 of those coming on a single touchdown pass by Trevor Lawrence.

While you cannot simply take a play off the board with a flick of your fingers, the truth is that barring that long-gain play, the Ravens were mighty close to putting the full clamps on Jacksonville. Remove that pass and we're talking about a silly-low 268-yard outing by a team leading an NFL division, no less. That's what we call hellacious defense around these places.

The Ravens' defense was even better against the Jaguars' run even facing a true elite rusher in Travis Etienne, who could only muster 31 yards on 10 carries. Again, remove Trevor Lawrence's 41-yard contribution on the ground, and the Ravens allowed Jacksonville to rush the rock for a meager 34 yards on 13 carries combined.

Even though the Jaguars had four drives in which they crossed the 40-yard line of the Ravens half of the field in their first five offensive trips, they failed to score even a single point in all of those drives. Not until WR Jamal Agnew grabbed that 65-yard pass did they put points on the board, already midway through the third quarter in a blown coverage.

"We bend, don’t break. We just try to impose our will on people week in and week out. Obviously, those guys... I heard their little motto this week was, ‘Be the bully,’ or something like that. I overheard that, saying that they wanted to be a bully. That was their thing this week. Hey, I guess the bully gets hit in the mouth sometimes. How do they respond? It was a great team win."

- Roquan Smith, Baltimore Ravens LB

Ravens defensive leader and inside linebacker Roquan Smith commented on the defense's performance, stating, "We bend, don’t break."

Smith acknowledged to have "heard" about the Jaguars's motto for Sunday ("Be the Bully") but he then dropped the hammer while praising his work and that of the Ravens D as a whole, saying "I overheard that... That was their thing this week. Hey, I guess the bully gets hit in the mouth sometimes. How do they respond? It was a great team win."

Defensively, safety Kyle Hamilton (playing with a sprained MCL) led the team with seven tackles, including one for loss. Defensive tackle Justin Madubuike tied an NFL record by recording a half-sack (this one also forcing a recovered fumble) in 11 consecutive games, reaching 12 sacks on the season while leading all Ravens on that front. On and on it goes.

After 14 games and 15 weeks, the Ravens have the best defense in the nation in points allowed per game (16.1), as well as passing TD (14) and rushing TD (4) allowed through Week 15. The unit also leads the NFL with 50 sacks on the year while ranking fifth (5) in fumbles recovered.

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