At 9-3 and atop the AFC, the Baltimore Ravens appear poised for a Super Bowl run. But how they got here was a culmination of excellent coaching hires and roster moves.
The Greg Roman era was nearly a success. In 2019, he helped lead the team to a 14-2 record and the offense was among the most dominant in modern football history. Lamar Jackson sat nearly three games worth of fourth quarters due to the blowouts. But, they couldn’t break through in the post-season, nor when Jackson was sidelined with injury in back-to-back years. For all Roman’s faults, he did bring success.
But it was time to move on and Head Coach John Harbaugh was true to his word in “turning over every stone” to find a candidate to evolve the offense. Jackson had become a more refined passer and the ball needed to get downfield with better frequency and schematically. Their red zone offense must be better, as they finished 2022 with a 44% touchdown rate in the red zone. It was a priority of Monken, and a philosophy, as he shared in his introductory press conference in February.
“You take that and what you realize is that good football is surrounded by don’t turn it over, be explosive, score touchdowns in the red zone, be good on third downs, don’t have loss yardage plays and athletic quarterbacks that make off-schedule plays,” Monken said. “The rest of it just falls into that.”
The Ravens are ranked third in the NFL in red zone touchdown scoring at 64.58%. They’re finding the end zone better than 29 other teams. They’ve gone from third-worst in the NFL to third best. And while some of that is not having backup quarterback Tyler Huntley start four games and play in six or seven total, it’s abundantly clear the vision of Monken has come to fruition.
I admire Smith’s respect to the organization and modesty. In his first answer (and throughout his presser), he credited Assistant Head Coach/Defensive line coach Anthony Weaver for a lot of the improvements this season for the team. I don’t doubt Weaver hasn’t been beneficial. I think Weaver has certainly helped develop changes to improve the Ravens defensive front and their attack schemes to benefit the team. But in the nature of pass rushing, it’s hard to believe the man the Ravens hired has only been a partial improvement to the team, especially when the players rave about his coaching and knowledge of getting to quarterbacks.
Last season, the Ravens finished the season with 48 sacks. This season, through 12 games, the Ravens have 47. Their pass rush is hunting from all angles. Justin Madubuike has 10 sacks, and their edge rushers have combined for another 17.5 between Jadeveon Clowney (7.5), Kyle Van Noy (6) and Odafe Oweh (4). The pressure has been overwhelming for opposing offenses and it’s clear the coaching from Smith has taken hold.
Hidden among the big-name coaching additions this offseason is Defensive Backs Coach Dennard Wilson. But don’t tell that to Pass Game Coordinator/Secondary Coach Chris Hewitt.
“It’s been really awesome [working with Dennard Wilson],” Hewitt said. “You get another guy in the room to help you out, and you can see the result in what’s been going on with our secondary, but it’s definitely been a plus.”
Same with Weaver, who made sure to mention him when asked about the additions to the coaching staff this season.
“I think [defensive backs coach] Dennard Wilson was a huge add,” Weaver said. “To see him and [pass game coordinator/secondary] Chris Hewitt working that ‘DB’ [defensive backs] room is awesome.”
In seasons prior, the Ravens secondary would struggle to overcome the absence of cornerback Marlon Humphrey. Now, Humphrey, who missed the past two games (and the first four of the season) isn’t being brought up during Hewitt’s press conference. The star cornerback on the team isn’t being mentioned because there’s so many other players to discuss in the secondary.
The Ravens defense has taken a massive leap forward this season. They were good last year and became great down the stretch. They started to solve their issues and the younger players rounded into form. The addition of inside linebacker Roquan Smith and steadied play of safety Kyle Hamilton helped to quell their issues.
Now, though, with more explosive players on defense and studs at just about each position, the Ravens are raring to make plays and Macdonald has the versatility in his roster to make calls to better benefit their scheme; even when it means blitzing veteran cornerback Arthur Maulet on fourth down after playing only six snaps prior and having 355-pound nose tackle Michael Pierce drop back into coverage.
“For that particular technique, [Michael] Pierce is probably the best guy we have at doing it. He’s a really underrated athlete,” Macdonald said. “It goes back to our philosophy of we’re trying to … We want everybody to be able to blitz [and] drop. It’s fluid, right? And having the threat of being able to bring pressure from both sides, up the middle, overload a side. That particular scheme asked him to drop, and he has his role, and he executed his role, and he stood right where he should be standing.”
Macdonald’s defense has been praised by Rich Eisen and The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen as “must-see TV” for football fans. Each week there’s a new wrinkle, or an exciting and dynamic way to generate pressure or confusion in an offense. It’s working, too, as the defense is ranked No. 2 in DVOA, allowed only 16 touchdowns (fewest in the NFL) and ranks second in the NFL in scoring defense, at 15.6 points per game allowed.
John Harbaugh… He leads. He gets his players to buy in. He hired a superstar staff this offseason and is getting results. The success this season is not “in spite” of Harbaugh. It’s because of Harbaugh. It’s bizarre needing to defend the man who has helped lead this team for over a decade to great success, and has done so with star talent and with fractured rosters.
Looking over all the hires, you can’t help but note this Ravens coaching staff is Super Bowl caliber. The ones who were already in place have combined with additional talent, much like the roster. I asked Weaver about it, and he agrees.
“I truly do [believe this is a special group of coaches],” Weaver said. “I think we have an incredible staff both offensively and defensively. I think [defensive backs coach] Dennard Wilson was a huge add. To see him and [pass game coordinator/secondary] Chris Hewitt working that ‘DB’ [defensive backs] room is awesome. I coached [inside linebackers coach] Zach Orr in college, so I knew exactly what we were going to get out of him with the linebackers, and you see how they play. Then, I think we have a bunch of position assistants that you never hear about that are up-and-comers in the profession like [defensive quality control] Matt Robinson, [defensive coaching fellow] Brendan Clark, [coaching/scouting analyst] Andrew Rogan. It’s awesome. We have [coaching fellow] Marianna Salas who puts together one of the best ‘DB’ [defensive backs] tip sheets I’ve ever seen in my life. We have a really solid group from top to bottom, led obviously by Mike ‘Mac’ [Macdonald] who I think is incredible. I truly do believe we have a special staff.
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