Baltimore Ravens Smothering Defense Leads NFL In QB Pressures

The Baltimore Ravens defense has been smothering this season under defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.

The Baltimore Ravens' defense this season has been smothering. 

The offense hasn't been half bad either, and the two units together have posted the league's best points differential this season at +115. The next-closest team - and it's not close - is the Buffalo Bills at +80.

The defensive unit has impressed all season long, and it's helped the team to a 7-2 record, and tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for the best record in the AFC, and second-best record in the NFL.

The Ravens are being recognized as the leader in another statistical category too.

Per Pro Football Focus, the Baltimore defense has generated 203 quarterback pressures - the most through nine weeks since 2018.

Justin Madubuike / USA Today

That's thanks to the efforts of defensive tackle Justin Madubuike, who leads the team with 7.5 sacks, linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who came to the Ravens in the offseason and now has five sacks, and fellow linebackers Jadeveon Clowney and Patrick Queen who each have 3.5 sacks.

The defense under Mike Macdonald - who now appears destined to be a head coaching candidate this offseason - has made strides since last year. 

While all the attention is on the Eagles in the NFC as the league's best team, there's not a lot of awareness of the fact that the Ravens are by far the NFL's most dominant. It's not just apparent in points differential either. Through nine games, Baltimore is outgaining opponents by a measure of 3,363-2,319 in terms of yardage.

The 2023 Ravens' defense is being compared to - *cough, cough* - the 2000 unit that led the league in points allowed (10.3), run defense (60.6 yards allowed/game) and takeaways (49).

As dominant as this year's defense has been, it doesn't match up with the 2000 Super Bowl-winning defense. This year's Ravens defense is allowing 13.8 points per game allowed, 91.9 yards rushing allowed per game, and 13 takeaways.

It might not be 2000, but Ravens fans hope the result is the same - a Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season.