Baltimore’s defense is going to make things tough on Sunday.
The Cowboys are 1-1 on the year, and while that’s not terrible, their offensive output hasn’t been great. To be fair, though, they’ve faced two extremely talented defenses in those two games in the Browns and the Saints. Up next: another franchise who is known for their defense, and the only defense to rank better than Cleveland a year ago, the Baltimore Ravens.
While the Ravens have been known for their defense for quite some time, they’ve struggled on that side of the ball so far this season. Part of that has to do with facing Patrick Mahomes in Week 1, but another part has to do with the new man in charge of the defense.
The Ravens were the league’s most efficient defense last year. Much of the praise for that was directed to defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald. Schematically, Macdonald hadn’t done anything new or revolutionary for the Ravens, but he did make things more efficient.
Macdonald first joined the Ravens in 2014 as an intern and he rose up the ranks under two different Ravens coordinators in Dean Pees and Wink Martindale. Both coaches ran the same scheme, but with different styles and preferences. That base scheme is one that had been prevalent in Baltimore all the way back to the 2000 season, when the franchise scored its first Super Bowl win. Along the way, each coordinator added a few new wrinkles to the scheme, mutating it over time into a bit of a beast.
By the time Macdonald took over, he noticed the need for some serious streamlining. The efficiency with which Macdonald achieved this helped the Ravens put up consecutive years of extremely productive defensive football. This led to Macdonald’s coaching stock soaring, and he’s now the head coach of the surprise 2-0 Seahawks.
Taking Macdonald’s place is Zach Orr, a former Ravens linebacker whose rookie season in Baltimore was also the year that Macdonald starting with the Ravens. Orr began coaching in 2017 and, aside from one year with the Jaguars, has been with the Ravens his entire career. At just 32 years old, Orr is one of the youngest coordinators in the NFL.
So far, the inexperience has shown up on the field. The Ravens didn’t have many answers for the Chiefs, frequently exposing linebacker Roquan Smith in coverage against Kansas City’s speedy receivers. And the defense allowed 13 unanswered points in just over nine minutes to the Raiders to cost them the game last week, sending Baltimore to an 0-2 record and setting off alarms everywhere.
The secondary has been the biggest issue. They’ve allowed explosive passing plays (15 yards or more) on 17.7% of passing downs, the second-most in the league. They’re also 19th in pass defense DVOA. Safety Kyle Hamilton, who’s been rapidly ascending the list of top safeties in the league, has yet to force an incompletion and is allowing the second-highest passer rating among safeties with at least eight targets. Smith and fellow linebacker Trenton Simpson have also been heavily targeted, and each are in the top 10 among linebackers in yards after the catch allowed.
This is all in spite of a very good pass rush for Baltimore. They’re currently sixth in pressure rate and tied for third in sacks despite having the ninth-lowest blitz rate. In short, they’re only rushing four on a majority of plays and winning a lot of the time. The problem is that quarterbacks are also getting the ball out and hitting open receivers with room to run. In fact, the Ravens are giving up the most yards after catch in the league right now, an uncharacteristic trait for this franchise.
Now they’re facing an offense that prefers to throw the ball, even when their run game is working, and are doing so with a few players that thrive in YAC situations. Last year, CeeDee Lamb had the second-most yards after catch in the league (he was only three yards out of first place) while Jake Ferguson finished sixth among tight ends. KaVontae Turpin also has the tools to rack up the YAC, especially with an expanded receiving role this year.
And, of course, there’s Dak Prescott. The highest paid player in the NFL has put up middling performances against two defenses with elite secondaries, but the Ravens have looked susceptible against quick and accurate passers thus far. Prescott has a real opportunity to get back on track against this defense, a sentence that would have seemed a fantasy just two weeks ago. Of course, the Ravens have enough talent that things still won’t be easy even when they’re not playing well, but the Cowboys surprisingly match up well against this unit heading into the matchup.
