How the Ravens transformed a struggling defense into an elite unit on the fly

Ben Arthur

NFL Reporter

After the Ravens’ narrow victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 10, a game in which Baltimore gave up more than 30 points for the third time in six weeks, defensive coordinator Zach Orr noticed a renewed focus and intensity from his unit.

It carried into the following week, a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. But Orr saw maximum effort and togetherness in that game. No one pointed a finger.

Orr felt it was the best the defense had played — and in the style he wants it to play, too.

“I think that’s when it really started to turn,” he explained Wednesday, “and we realized that we could build on that and continue to keep it going if we stayed locked in with the preparation.”

As the Ravens prepare to host the Steelers on Saturday night in the wild-card round, it’s clear that the defense took the message to heart.

After struggling at the start of the season, particularly against the pass, Baltimore’s defense has morphed into one of the league’s best. The unit’s ascent makes the Ravens one of the most complete teams in the postseason field, with MVP-candidate Lamar Jackson and superstar running back Derrick Henry leading the charge on offense.

The Ravens ended the regular season ranked 10th in total defense (324.2 yards allowed per game) and sixth in EPA per play allowed, according to Next Gen Stats.

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In the first 10 weeks of the season, they allowed 25.3 points per game, 367.9 yards per game and 294.9 passing yards per game. Baltimore improved to giving up just 15.4 points per game, 261.7 yards per game and 171.5 passing yards per game over the last seven weeks of the regular season.

The Ravens finished 2024 leading the league in rushing defense (80.1 rushing yards allowed per game) and ranked second in rushing EPA per play allowed as well, per NGS.

Orr said he’s grateful the defense stood behind him amid the early-season struggles, when some league observers began questioning his promotion to replace Mike Macdonald, who had left to become head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

“Honestly, they didn’t have to do that publicly. Just for guys doing that, it made me want to go harder for them,” Orr said. “I think that just kind of shows the unity and the bond and the family-type atmosphere that we have here, because we say it’s a family, but a lot of times, when things start going bad, you get tested. Guys start turning their back on each other, and we never did that. That’s what honestly gave me the confidence that we’ll be able to get this thing going in the right direction.”

A big part of moving in that direction was utilizing the versatility of All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton.

The third-year pro spent 71.1% of his defensive snaps in the box or in the slot over the first 10 weeks. In that span, the Ravens allowed 597 passing yards (third-most) and seven passing touchdowns (tied for the most) to throws of at least 20 air yards, per Next Gen Stats. From Week 11 on, the Ravens had Hamilton line up at deep safety on 69.3% of snaps. And over the last eight weeks of the regular season, Baltimore allowed just a 25.0% completion rate (fifth) and 159 passing yards (fourth) on deep passes, according to NGS.

It goes beyond Hamilton, though. First-round cornerback Nate Wiggins, for instance, has been a high-impact player in Baltimore’s back end as well, despite being a rookie. He has allowed just a 47.8% completion rate as the nearest defender in coverage this season, the third-best mark among qualified players (min. 40 targets), according to Next Gen Stats, and he’s one of only five defenders this season with at least 60 targets who didn’t allow a touchdown.

There’s the Ravens’ balanced pass rush, too. They’re one of just five teams in the NFL with three players who have produced at least 15% of their pressures (Kyle Van Noy, Odafe Oweh, Nnamdi Madubuike).

What Baltimore arguably does best defensively is keep offenses on their toes. The Ravens showed a different shell pre-snap than they played in coverage on 43.5% of dropbacks faced during the regular season (third-highest), and they also used the highest rate of simulated pressure in the NFL (3.1%), according to Next Gen Stats.

Hamilton said the defense is proud of the way it ended the regular season, but the focus is now on the playoffs.

“No one really cares about that anymore,” he said of the regular season. “It’s a one-week life that we’re living right now, so we’re just focused on doing it against the Steelers this week.”

It’s another chance for Baltimore’s defense to continue ascending.

Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.

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