New players, new emphasis, same scheme for Pees’ defense
Acquisitions and healthy stars expected to shore up 3-4, create more turnovers
At some point this summer, Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees figures to have a better idea of how all the pieces will fit together. Bookend pass rushers Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil, rookie defensive end Bronson Kaufusi and top cornerback Jimmy Smith could be recovered from injuries and back on the field. A clear leader eventually will emerge to start at inside linebacker alongside C.J. Mosley.
Pees already feels comfortable answering two questions that have hovered over his defense throughout a long offseason. No, he insists, the Ravens are not switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defensive alignment, despite what you might have read or heard. And, yes, the reworked secondary will be significantly improved.
“There’s been a lot said about the secondary,” Pees said at the team’s mandatory minicamp this month. “I think you’re going to be very surprised.”
If nothing else, the Ravens defense will have a new look. Gone are veteran starters
“There’s been a lot said about the secondary. I think you’re going to be very surprised.”
Dean Pees, Ravens defensive coordinator
“We feel good about our plan. We feel good about the players we have. It is just a matter of getting everybody healthy and finishing strong in the offseason so when the real bullets start coming, we’re all ready.”
Daryl Smith, Chris Canty, Courtney Upshaw and Will Hill. Longtime cornerback Lardarius Webb is now a safety, and Mosley has moved into Daryl Smith’s middle linebacker role. The defensive additions include two-time All-Pro safety Eric Weddle; veteran cornerback Jerraud Powers; and rookie pass rushers Kaufusi, Kamalei Correa and Matthew Judon.
General manager Ozzie Newsome “did a great job of bringing in additional help,” said Dumervil, who is expected to recover from foot surgery in time to return early in training camp. “We have [Correa], we have Za’Darius [Smith], we have Terrell coming back. Our secondary became more tight with Eric back there. We’re excited. We feel good about our plan. We feel good about the players we have. It is just a matter of getting everybody healthy and finishing strong in the offseason so when the real bullets start coming, we’re all ready.”
There wasn’t much to be gained from observing the Ravens through two organized team activities and in mandatory minicamp. Several standouts on both sides of the ball did not participate, and the defensive staff was more focused on making sure the players had the play calls down and knew their assignments.
But in the offseason, the Ravens clearly prioritized having a quicker, versatile and more opportunistic defense. Weddle, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, has 19 career interceptions, and Powers, who started 40 games for the Arizona Cardinals over the past three seasons, has 11.
Correa, the team’s second-round NFL draft pick, can play both inside and outside linebacker. Kaufusi can line up at defensive end or on the inside.
As things stand, the Ravens will replace Daryl Smith, who was the team’s leading tackler two of the past three seasons but struggled in coverage, with Zachary Orr or Arthur Brown, two quicker players. The younger and more athletic Za’Darius Smith will replace Upshaw, who was primarily an edge setter.
“The ability to play guys in different spots, make it difficult for offenses to identify as far as their structure and who they’re supposed to block [and] who’s playing what coverage — those are all really important things,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “Having the players that can do that, that can play multiple positions, goes hand in hand with that. Having guys who can run and are athletic is really important. We’ve tried to do that.”
The Ravens defense ranked eighth in the NFL last year (10th against the pass and 12th against the run), the 11th time in the past 13 seasons that the unit finished in the top 10. A strong second half boosted the final ranking: Over their last eight games, the Ravens allowed 291.1 yards per game, after averaging 383.6 the first eight weeks.
But the defense still came up short in key areas. The Ravens forced just 14 turnovers, and their six interceptions ranked last in the league. They had an uncharacteristically low 37 sacks, 17th in the NFL, and allowed opponents to convert on third downs nearly 40 percent of the time.
The shortcomings prompted speculation that the Ravens would make significant changes. The hiring of assistants Leslie Frazier (secondary) and Joe Cullen (defensive line), both of whom came from a 4-3 Buccaneers defense in Tampa Bay, was taken as a sign by some that one of the changes would be a shift in alignment. But Pees said the Ravens always have employed some 4-3 concepts.
“When haven’t we been 3-4 and 4-3 and multiple other things? We have always been that,” he said. “We were that when Rex [Ryan] was the coordinator here, and Chuck [Pagano] and Greg [Mattison]. We’re a little bit of everything. Basically, what we are is, we look like a 3-4 personnel that plays a lot of 4-3 defense. But it’s not necessarily a standard 4-3 that everybody thinks of. There are all different ways to play 4-3 defense, and we’re multiple. We’re not changing to a 4-3 defense. We aren’t changing to anything.
“We’re playing what we play, and we’re trying to tweak it, and we studied some things in the offseason that we think will make us better both in the front and in the coverage, and that’s what we’ll do, just like you do every year. There is no wholesale change here.”
The Ravens defense, which has long prided itself on getting after the quarterback, still will depend heavily on Suggs, 33, and Dumervil, 32, who are both coming off surgery. But if one goes down, as Suggs did Elvis Dumervil, Ravens outside linebacker last season in Week 1, the Ravens still have Za’Darius Smith, who had 5.5 sacks as a rookie, along with Correa and Judon. The Ravens also figure to create more pressure from the interior, with Brent Urban or Kaufusi replacing the departed Canty on passing downs and Timmy Jernigan rushing from the defensive tackle spot.
Injuries have decimated the team’s secondary in recent seasons, but the Ravens now have six safeties with experience (Weddle, Webb, Kendrick Lewis, Matt Elam, Terrence Brooks and Anthony Levine) and veteran corners in Jimmy Smith, Wright, Powers, Kyle Arrington and Will Davis, along with draft picks Tavon Young and Maurice Canady.
“I think we are going to be good, but I always think that,” Jimmy Smith said. “I think putting Webb back there at safety — that whole competition right now is really good. You’ve got guys coming on really strong — Terrence Brooks, Elam is playing pretty well. Weddle, obviously, he is commanding the defense back there and is making plays as well. Everybody in that room, including our coaches, kind of are putting it in our head to get turnovers.”
The Ravens spent time in every practice at minicamp working on stripping the ball carrier, and the defensive backs did daily drills that emphasized reading the ball and going after it. The team also is keeping a chart of caused turnovers for each player this summer. Harbaugh hopes to establishes a ball-hawking mindset that carries into the regular season.
“We have high expectations for our defense this year,” Harbaugh said. “I really like the players out there running around, young guys and veteran guys. We’ll see how it jells in training camp and in the preseason.”