Marlon Humphrey trashes Ravens' defense after huge Ja'Marr Chase TNF game
On paper, the Baltimore Ravens should be proud of their crucial win on Thursday Night Football over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Exchanging blow after blow down the stretch, with the defense securing a massive stop on a game-clinching failed two-point conversation attempt by Joe Burrow and company, the Ravens got to celebrate a massive AFC North victory on Thursday Night Football as millions of fans watched on.
And yet, when asked about the game, cornerback Marlon Humphrey wasn't feeling too celebratory, as he was downright disgusted by how the Ravens' defense played against Ja'Marr Chase, who had 261 yards and three touchdowns in a losing effort. Even if the Bengals ultimately lost the game, the Ravens can't afford to play like that and still win games week in and week out, especially when the playoffs roll around .
"I'm tired of that dude. [Ja'Marr Chase] is just different. It's not even so much about the route he runs – whatever. It's just, [when] he gets the ball in his hands, if you don't tackle him soon, it can get really ugly. He's a good player. You never really can count the Bengals out when he's on their team. I think he had like 200, like over 250 [receiving yards], which is rough, which is rough," Humphrey told reporters.
"These wins are getting harder to enjoy based off of what we're doing in the pass defense. I feel like when I was a rookie – first-year guy, second-year guy – the vets I looked up to [and] the standard that was there and the pass defense... We've really lost that standard, and I feel like that falls on me. We're going to keep chasing at it. We're going to keep working at it, because I'm not really satisfied with what I've built in this secondary [and] where it's gone. I just don't think [with us] playing like this [that] we can go far. It's cool winning; it's great we're winning, but I want to go far; I want to go to the end. The way we're playing ... Something has got to change."
Interesting stuff, right? Well wait, it gets even better, as Humphrey had plenty more to say on the matter.
"We've just got to play better. I've got to play better; we've all got to play better. We've got to play as a unit, and we're just not doing that. [There's] really nothing really more to say. We've got to keep working. We've got to take the practice to the game. [We had] a great practice week ... What is missing there from how we're practicing to how we're playing in the game? It's become clear that it's something," Humphrey told reporters.
"I think each guy has got to look at themselves in the mirror and figure out, 'Why are you not playing how you practice something?' You practice this route concept [and then in] the game, you don't do it how you practice. It's becoming more of a mental thing, I think, but we've got to get that fixed. It's not cool to win a game, and you look up and a team has 300 passing [yards on you] every week. It'd be different if we didn't have [any] guys that could play. I haven't once heard anybody say, 'We don't have the guys; we don't have the players; we don't have the skill.' We're not doing it in practice. It's clear that it's something from ... When we do that last preparation to the game, what is happening in that span? We've got to figure it out. It's pretty simple."
As things presently stand, the Ravens are one of the top-5 teams in the NFL, maybe even top-3 when everything shakes out. But to become the top team in the NFL, period, the Ravens have to play the sort of defense Baltimore fans have become accustomed to, which certainly doesn't include giving up 300-plus passing yards through the air on a weekly basis.
