Zach Orr hasn’t changed the Ravens’ pass defense much. Why is it so broken?
The best thing the Ravens' defense did Sunday looked a lot like one of the worst things it did Sunday — until the end, anyway. That's when things tend to fall apart. That's where a pass defense that was one of the NFL's best only a year ago now looks like one of the worst.
The two plays happened about a quarter apart in the Ravens' stunning 29-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns . Strategically, defensive coordinator Zach Orr's play calls had similar intentions: Scramble the offense's pass protection responsibilities with a heavy-pressure look at the line of scrimmage. Drop defenders into the second level to deter quick releases over the middle. Move a deep safety around at the snap to confuse the quarterback's initial read.
The first play worked like a dream. Late in the second quarter, safety Kyle Hamilton timed his blitz perfectly, swinging around the left side of the Browns' line unmarked as cornerback Arthur Maulet, who'd feigned a blitz look from the right side, dropped into coverage. Quarterback Jameis Winston barely had time to reach the end of his drop before Hamilton crunched him in the back, jarring the ball loose and forcing a turnover. The Ravens recovered at Cleveland's 25-yard line and scored a touchdown less than a minute later.
That other play, though? A nightmare. Late in the third quarter, with Cleveland facing third-and-5 at the Ravens' 22, the Ravens' defense mistakenly lined up without an edge rusher over Browns left tackle Dawand Jones. As outside linebacker Odafe Oweh hustled over, Winston snapped the ball. Maulet's blitz from his blind side was unmarked, but it didn't matter. Winston threw quickly to the pocket of space that safety Eddie Jackson had just vacated as the defense mutated from a two-high coverage shell to a one-high look. Wide receiver Cedric Tillman caught the in-breaker around the Ravens' 15, wasn't touched until around the 5 and reached the end zone for his first career touchdown a moment later.
Under coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens want to muddle the picture for opposing quarterbacks. That can be difficult when not everyone on defense gets the picture.
"We try to keep people guessing," Harbaugh said Monday. "It's a big part of our defense, and the execution part of it, for the most part, has been good, but there have been plenty of times where it hasn't been good."
Sunday marked a new low for the Ravens' defense, which allowed 334 passing yards to what had been, under sidelined starter Deshaun Watson, the NFL's worst aerial attack. Needing one final stop to preserve a late lead in Cleveland, the Ravens gave up 74 passing yards on the Browns' last possession, the final 38 coming on Winston's last-minute, go-ahead touchdown strike to Tillman.
The Ravens now enter Sunday's game against the Denver Broncos atop a bunch of unpleasant leaderboards. Most passing yards allowed in the NFL (2,331). Most touchdown passes allowed in the NFL (17). Most dropped interceptions in the NFL (eight, according to Pro Football Focus).
If schematic bewilderment were quantifiable, the Ravens would probably lead the NFL in that, too. Coverage busts have derailed the defense in nearly every game , a trend made all the more vexing by the relative continuity in the team's defensive system. When rising-star coordinator Mike Macdonald was named the Seattle Seahawks' head coach this past offseason, Harbaugh hand-picked Orr, then the Ravens' inside linebackers coach, to be the unit's new play-caller .
(Defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson subsequently left to become defensive coordinator in Tennessee, which now allows the fewest passing yards per game in the NFL.)
Through eight weeks, Orr has embraced the hallmarks of Macdonald's scheme without finding the same level of success. The presnap sleights of hand that baffled quarterbacks last year aren't really fooling anybody this year.
It's not for a lack of trying, though. According to Field Vision , the 2023 Ravens disguised their coverage — usually showing a two-high look before shifting to one-high close to the snap, or vice versa — on 41.3% of their plays, one of the league's highest rates. The 2024 Ravens are at 41.5% .
The 2023 Ravens ran a simulated pressure — where the threat of five or more pass rushers forces offenses to adjust their protection rules and keep blockers in, only for the defense to send just four pass rushers after the quarterback — on 27.4% of their plays, also one of the league's highest rates. The 2024 Ravens are at 26%.
"You can't just really line up against these guys too often and just show them what you're in," Harbaugh said. "You do that with the [Joe] Burrows and those guys, it's tough, so that's always been what we've done. We've been a big disguise team. We've been a big [simulated pressure] team. We've blitzed from both sides. We've shown blitzes one way and blitzed the other way and run out of it. We've shown one way and come that way. We've shown edge and come to the middle. We try to keep it moving."
Imitation hasn't led to duplication for the Ravens, but not because of a sudden inability to deceive quarterbacks. A review of the 59 "explosive" pass plays (gains of at least 16 yards) the defense has allowed this year, by far the most in the NFL, found disguise-related coverage breakdowns in only about a dozen. The rest were more standard-issue failures in execution: one-on-one battles lost, zone holes punctured, open-field tackles missed, out-of-structure chaos allowed. An inconsistent pass rush hasn't patched over many holes, either.
Still, the Ravens' struggles with changing the picture are instructive. No one in the back end has been immune to blunders. In Week 1, Hamilton never dropped into his assigned zone, freeing Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy for a wide-open 35-yard touchdown.
In Week 3, safety Marcus Williams' struggles with his positioning after late coverage rotations helped open a couple of throwing lanes to Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson.
In Week 5, cornerback Marlon Humphrey and Jackson ended up defending the same patch of grass as the Ravens shifted from a two-high shell to one-high, giving Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase the runway he needed to run under a 41-yard touchdown pass.
In Week 6, inside linebackers Roquan Smith and Trenton Simpson ended up dropping into no-man's land on one disguised look that ended with a 28-yard completion to Washington Commanders wide receiver Noah Brown.
"We come in every week, we work hard in practice — we just have to let it translate to the game," Jackson said after Sunday's game. "Coach is putting us in that position to make those plays. We just have to get out of this funk that we're in."
The Ravens have done it before. In 2022, Macdonald's first year as a coordinator in Baltimore, his defense allowed more passing yards over its first eight games (2,134) than all but four teams that season. But over the Ravens' next nine games, bolstered by a midseason trade for Smith, they allowed the 11th-fewest passing yards.
On paper, this Ravens team has a more talented defensive core. It also has a far more potent offense. But it's Orr's show to run now. The challenge is finding out which of Macdonald's magic tricks can still work for this defense. Only then can the Ravens develop a routine that works for them.
"We're going to get it better and better and better, and I don't know if we're going to get it perfect, but we're going to try," Harbaugh said, "or we're going to die trying."
