Dominant Performance Shows Ravens' Defensive Growth

The Baltimore Ravens' defense is putting all the pieces together at the right time.

Dec 15, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Baltimore Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy (53) celebrates after sacking Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) during the first quarter at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The 2024 season has truly been a tale of two halves for the Baltimore Ravens' defense.

As anyone who's followed Baltimore knows, the first half of the season was an absolute mess. The Ravens were giving up yards and points at an alarming rate, with their pass defense in particular being one of the worst in recent memory.

Since Week 11, though, the Ravens' defense has actually been one of the best in the NFL, allowing a league-low 272.8 yards per game in that span. Wednesday's 31-2 blowout win over the Houston Texans marked the defense's best performance of the season, as Baltimore allowed just 211 total yards and pitched a shutout while recording five sacks and an interception.

It's been a dramatic turnaround in such a short time, and the Ravens couldn't be happier with the results.

"I'm very pleased," head coach John Harbaugh told reporters after the game. "I've said numerous times, it's a week-to-week league, and it's important to keep things in perspective. It's a good lesson for everything else besides football too – keep things in perspective. You can improve. You can get better. I'm proud of those guys, [Defensive coordinator] Zach [Orr], obviously, spearheading it [and senior advisor] Dean Pees helping us, of course. Let's look at all the players and all the coaches and what a great job they've done.

After a narrow Week 10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, in which star receiver went off for 264 yards and three touchdowns against the Ravens, Orr and his players had a crucial meeting about what needed to change. The Ravens then made some key changes to the lineup, with Ar'Darius Washington taking over as a starting safety, Malik Harrison and Chris Board seeing more action at linebacker and Tre'Davious White providing some nice depth at cornerback.

It was a long journey to recapture the magic of last year's defense, but the Ravens look to be peaking at the right time on that side of the ball.

"Man, I'm not going to lie. I'd say we've come full circle," cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. "But no, it felt good. I was talking with Pees. He was here when I was a rookie, and I think we had maybe one or two shutouts. I was telling 'Z.O.,' it feels good to play good defense. We had some things out there, but it's always good when you can have their offense not score. You've got to say you played pretty well.

"This is a testament to it all kind of coming together. I felt the coaching was there, and I just felt as players, 'What is the formula to continue to get high percentages of 11 guys doing 11 guys' jobs?' Obviously, we had some mishaps here and there on a couple things, guys were kind of wide open, but man, a shutout – even though they got a two [points] – it feels great."

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