Ravens Week 2 Defensive Report Card: Pass rush dominates; secondary continues to struggle late

Weekly grades for every position group on defense are in with some high, moderate and poor marks.

The Baltimore Ravens blew another double-digit fourth-quarter lead in a deflating 26-23 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday afternoon. Despite coming up short as a team in Week 2 in their regular season home opener, there were several impressive performances by players on both sides of the ball and many left much to be desired.

Here is how each individual position group on defense fared on the weekly grade sheet.

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Outside Linebackers: A+

From literal start to finish, this position group was bringing the heat off the edge headlined by fourth-year pro Odafe Oweh recorded a sack on the first play from scrimmage of the game and finished with a single-game career-high and team-leading 2.5 to go along with five total tackles including four solos and two for a loss and three quarterback hits. Despite his numbers being on par and arguably even better, the only edge rusher’s performance being lauded after this game is Raiders three-time Pro Bowler Max Crosby who also had a monster game.

Not even a fractured orbital bone suffered in the season opener could stop veteran Kyle Van Noy from not only suiting up but making his presence felt early and often in this game in this game. He recorded a pair of sacks, led the team with three solo tackles for loss and tied Oweh for the team lead in quarterback hits.

Third-year pro David Ojabo continued to show how impactful he can be as both a run defender and pass rusher with how set the edge in the ground game and generated a drive-ending pressure on his lone quarterback hit. Second-year pro Tavius Robinson also recorded a quarterback hit.

Defensive Line: A+

The Ravens could very well have one of the best interior defensive lines in the league who are capable of stuffing the run as well as they collapse the pocket around opposing quarterbacks. Leading the charge in both aspects for the position group against the Raiders was 2023 Pro Bowler Nnamdi Madubuike who was robbed of a sack on a phantom facemask call where he pulled the quarterback down by his shoulder pad. Nevertheless, he still was a disruptive force with three solo tackles including two for a loss and a quarterback hit.

Third-year pro Travis Jones continued to emerge and has been just as impactful if not more in a sense given how many of the pressures he generates up the middle flushes the quarterback into the open arms of his teammates on the edge. He finished with three total tackles including two solos and one for a loss. Veteran nose tackle Michael Pierce was very active in this game as well, splitting a sack with Oweh and logging an assisted tackle and a quarterback hit. After being inactive for the season opener. Veteran defensive end Brent Urban recorded three total tackles including a pair of solos.

Inside Linebackers: C

The group as a whole didn’t struggle nearly as much as they did in coverage in the season opener and actually made some plays in that area while still giving up a few as well as trying to keep up with Raiders first-round rookie tight end Brock Bowers in space. Two-time First Team All Pro Roquan Smith led the team with 11 total tackles including four solos and broke up a pass while second-year pro Trenton Simpson tied for the fourth-most total tackles with five including three solos.

Veteran Malik Harrison assisted on a pair of tackles but whiffed on what would’ve been his only solo had been able to bring down a Raiders running back in the open field on a checkdown. Third-year pro John Ross and veteran Chris Board played special teams exclusively with each recording a pair of tackles as very active members of the kick and punt coverage units.

Cornerbacks: C+

After being stout for most of the first three-quarters of the game, this position group struggled mightily down the stretch as the Raiders made their furious fourth-quarter rally. Three-time Pro Bowler Marlon Humphrey was able to come up with his first interception on the season on a poorly thrown ball on the boundary in the first half and he also got beat inside for the game-tying touchdown by six-time Pro Bowler wideout Davante Adams.

Both Humphrey and fourth-year pro Brandon Stephens had a hard time covering Adams in the second half and especially in the fourth quarter. Yet, defensive coordinator Zach Orr didn’t provide either with consistent safety help over the top even when it seemed like he was coming down everything in the vicinity despite tight coverage from his two starters on the outside. Although, in their defense, there were some highly questionable pass interference penalties called on them during this game in high leverage moments.

Humphrey finished with the second-most tackles on the team with 10 including one for a loss and a pass breakup while Stephens recorded three total tackles and a pass breakup. Despite first-rounder Nate Wiggins being out with a concussion, third-year pro Jalyn Armour-Davis only saw the field for one snap on defense but managed to record a solo tackle on special teams.

Safeties: B-

This position group played solid for the most part and while they didn’t make any glaring mistakes in coverage that led to walk-in touchdowns this week, they collectively didn’t make many plays either and shared some of the onus for Bowers’ big day through the air as well.

First Team All Pro Kyle Hamilton recorded the third-most total tackles on the team with six including five solos and nearly had a sack on a slot blitz. Veteran Marcus Williams recorded one of his three total tackles on a contested 27-yard reception he gave up to Bowers who rumbled his way to the Ravens’ one-yard line and the Raiders would score one play later.

Two-time Pro Bowl veteran Eddie Jackson didn’t make any standout plays either and recorded just two total tackles including one for a loss meanwhile fourth-year pro Ar’Darius Washington made one tackle on seven defensive snaps and seventh-round rookie Sanoussi Kane played exclusively on special teams.

Special Teams

Kicking: B-

The future Hall of Famer banged through both extra point attempts and all three field goal attempts from under 50 yards but missed from beyond midfield for the second week in a row. Dating back to last season, Tucker is now 1-of-7 on attempts of over 50 yards and while one was blocked and some of them were from 55-and-longer including 59 and 61-yarders, the seven-time Pro Bowler continues to be a liability from that range the 0-2 Ravens can’t afford to keep trotting out.

Punting: C

Third-year pro Jordan Stout saw more action in this game than he did last week with a pair of punts in each half and while he averaged 43.3 yards an attempt with a long of 57, he didn’t pin the Raiders inside their own 20-yard on any of them. His last proved costly as it was the absolute worst time for him to shank a 24-yarder off his foot out of bounds that wound up being a net of 19 yards after a penalty by one of his gunners that gave Las Vegas the ball past mid-field at the Baltimore 43-yard line with the game tied at 23-23. The rest was unfortunate history.