Ravens All-Pro Agrees Defense Isn't Mature Yet

The Ravens defense already had a team dinner scheduled for this week prior to the season opener, and while he wouldn't reveal any specifics of what exactly was discussed or who paid what was certainly a massive tab, Pro Bowl outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy shared that candid conversations were had.

"Things were talked about, and we have to turn the page," Van Noy said. "You have to put perspective on it, and the perspective is we weren't good enough. Those are the facts. We ended up losing, and let's turn the page and focus on the [Cleveland] Browns, because 1-1 sounds a lot better than 0-2."

Baltimore has All Pros and Pro Bowlers at all three levels of the defense, almost all of whom are in the primes of their respective careers. They have four players who are among the 10 highest-paid at their position and three making $20 million or more annually. Yet, in the crucial moments of the biggest games or even just regular-season games that get tight near the end, the players who are paid to be closers aren't consistently making those closing plays.

"I think everyone wants to make a play," Humphrey said. "Do your job, and if the play comes to you, it comes to you. Working on that maturity comes in practice."

While the Ravens coaches have received a lot of criticism for being conservative and not having the team prepared, Humphrey refuted that notion and put the blame on the poor execution by the players themselves.

"We're in the perfect calls for a lot of the things that happened, and we didn't execute the calls properly," Humphrey said. "That's why the loss hurt so bad, because we knew exactly what they were going to do in a couple different situations, and all 11 guys couldn't get together."

There were several instances against the Bills when the Ravens were just one play away from thwarting an eventual scoring drive that could've been the difference in the final result. Whether it was one of their three dropped interceptions or not staying disciplined when it came to pass rush lane integrity for the edge defenders, or guarding the boundary for the secondary, they failed to consistently execute.

"The guys were in the right position," Orr said. "We just have to be tighter and cleaner with our fundamentals and techniques. I felt like we wore down in that aspect as the game went on – really the fourth quarter – the well kind of broke in that aspect, which was disappointing. So, we're not here to make excuses; we have to be better. So, that's been the biggest thing. That's been the biggest point of emphasis is finishing and doing that through our fundamentals and our technique."

Those types of recurring mistakes are the ones the stalwart leaders of the unit vowed to address throughout the offseason, yet still reared their ugly heads again during the first time this loaded unit took the field in the regular season. Nevertheless, they remained determined to right the ship after an earlier wake-up call than they got a year ago, following a similar poor start.

"Just know that we're doing everything we can to try to right the ship and get it going in a place where everybody's excited about it," Van Noy said.