Defense Continues to Lead Ravens During Win Streak

Fans and pundits alike were ready to run the second-year defensive coordinator out of town following a horrendous start to the season by his unit, which has been one of the league's best in their last five games, especially during the team's win streak. The Ravens haven't allowed an opponent to score 20-plus points since Week 5, and they had their most suffocating outing of the season when they were supposed to, going up against not one, but two rookie quarterbacks.

Orr had both Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders' heads spinning in this game with the myriad of coverages, simulated pressures, and well-timed blitzes he was dialing up. In the first half, Gabriel completed 7-of-10 passes but only for 68 passing yards and no touchdown, and was sacked once before exiting with a concussion at halftime. Sanders came off the bench in the second half and fared even worse, going 4-of-16 for 47 passing yards, no touchdowns, an interception, and was sacked twice, finishing with a passer rating of 13.5.

After struggling in run defense early on in the game as a result of missed tackles and poor backside contain, they made some adjustments and held Browns standout rookie running back Quinshon Judkins to 59 rushing yards with a meager average of 3.5 yards per carry. Their pass rush and pass coverage were both on point, recording 3 sacks, 10 quarterback hits, 18 pressures and 9 pass breakups.

Todd Monken has to be in his bag more often in red zone

While the Ravens offense hasn't had a hard time moving the ball and generating explosive plays through the air and on the ground, where they continue to struggle mightily is making the most of drives in which they get inside the opposing team's 20-yard line. Their inability to capitalize on those scoring opportunities with touchdowns and instead having to settle for short field goals have resulted in their defense having to come up with one last stand to prevent a late game-tying scoring drive by the opposing team in back-to-back games. After going 2-of-5 last week, they were 1-of-4 against the Browns, which kept them from taking over and pulling away in what could've been a double-digit margin of victory.

Most of their consistent struggles in that area of the field come down to a combination of poor play-calling and even worse execution in terms of blocking assignments, which have resulted in Jackson getting sacked and running backs getting blown up in the backfield and stopped short of the goal line for minimal gains.

After nearly four quarters of frustration, Monken dialed up 'Hurricane', a tush-push rollout wrinkle with Pro Bowl Mark Andrews that resulted in a 35-yard go-ahead touchdown with 2:31 left in the game. The week before, he called another perfectly timed and almost flawlessly executed variant out of that formation that saw Andrews go from under center to pitching the ball to Jackson for a key late first down.

It appears that Jackson might not still be fully healthy, given his reluctance to scramble as much as he should, and Monken shows when it comes to calling more quarterback runs. With so many other dynamic playmakers at his disposal, Monken dipping into his bag of creative tendency-breaking plays earlier and more often inside the 20-yard line would go a long way toward improving in that key aspect of the game.

Patrick Ricard needs to be utilized in the backfield more

Another surefire way Monken can improve not only in the red zone but when it comes to running the ball more consistently and for bigger chunks is by having his All Pro fullback on the field more often as a lead blocker. While Ricard's services are sometimes needed on the edge to help out in pass protection, he is devestating as a road grader in the ground game who is essentially another pulling guard when hen gets moving downhill with a full head of steam.

It's not a coincidence that the Ravens' two biggest and longest runs of the game came on plays where Ricard was on the field and started the play lined up in the backfield. He then went on to make a key block to spring Andrews on the game-winning Hurricane play, and earlier in the game sprung five-time Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry for his longest run of the season on a 59-yarder that he nearly took to the house.

Far too often, there are instances where Henry and Jackson are the only ones on the backfield in pistol or shotgun with no additional blockers, and since the quarterback run hasn't been utilized much and not as effectively as it has when called, those plays, in the red zone in particular, hardly bear fruit as frequently.

Having Ricard allows Henry to build up a head of steam moving downhill, and can open up a crease for some of the Ravens' smaller and more explosive running backs to hit. Against the Browns, he was on the field for 19 offensive snaps, which was 31.1% of the team's total. Moving forward, he should be closer to playing around 50% if not more.