Read Sports Geek and Loyal Homer’s arguments about the which event they believe was the biggest surprise in football over the weekend.
Here’s a question: How did the vaunted Baltimore Ravens defense allow Kansas City Chiefs backup quarterback Brodie Croyle to throw for two touchdowns, a 116.1 passer rating, and fail to force a single turnover?!
If you were to ask me before week one in the NFL which defense was going to have the best performance, I would have said the Baltimore Ravens. Last season, the Ravens ranked second in the NFL for total defense and had more interceptions than any other team. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs were ranked offensively among the bottom ten teams in the league for total offense (24th), points per game (26th), and turned the ball over 24 times (including 16 interceptions). Add to that the fact that the Chiefs were forced to start Croyle after it was decided that starting quarterback Matt Cassell would not play. All the signs were pointing towards a good ol’ fashioned beat down by the Ravens.
I could not have been more mistaken.
Despite winning the game, the Ravens should be very disappointed in their performance on Sunday, and VERY concerned that this might be an indication of how they will match up against an offense that is actually able to produce consistently.
Croyle, who has never won a game as a starting quarterback, should have been easy pickings for one of the most dominant defenses of the last decade in the NFL. He has a career passer rating of only 67.5, and has thrown only six touchdowns to eight interceptions since joining the Chiefs in 2006. Defending against a player with those credentials should have been like shooting fish in a barrel for defensive back Ed Reed, linebacker Ray Lewis and company. But, it was not.
The Chiefs went on to score 24 points against a Ravens defense that only allowed an average of 15.3 points per game all season in 2008, and only allowed 24 or more points four times during all of 2008 (which understandably came against high-powered offenses such as the Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys, and the New York Giants). By allowing the Chiefs to score 24 points behind a second-string quarterback, the appearance is that this is not the same Ravens defense we are used to seeing.
Perhaps age has finally caught up with Baltimore. This is a defense where many of their superstars are now well into their 30’s (Ray Lewis – 34, Ed Reed – 31, Trevor Pryce – 34), and the AVERAGE age for the starting 11 is slightly above 28 years old.
Another factor that may have serious implications for the Ravens on defense is the loss of Rex Ryan as the defensive coordinator. Ryan joined Baltimore in 1999 as their defensive line coach, and was promoted to the defensive coordinator position in 2005. The son of legendary coach Buddy Ryan, Rex Ryan has established himself as one of the elite defensive-minded coaches in the league. That reputation helped save his job in 2008 after the firing of then head coach Brian Billick and all of Billick’s staff (except for Ryan, of course), and eventually led to his current assignment as the head coach of the New York Jets. Perhaps he was the secret ingredient that helped make the Ravens’ defense one of the best in the league.
In fairness, it is also possible that the game against Kansas City on Sunday was just a blip on the radar. It is entirely possible that the Ravens will come out of the gates next week in San Diego with guns blazing, and will shut down the potentially dangerous Chargers’ offense.
It can be difficult to gauge a team’s likelihood of success or failure off of only one game, especially when it is a game that the Ravens won (regardless of how pretty that win looked). Nevertheless, I expected a much better performance out of the Baltimore defense last Sunday. If this game serves as any indication that the Ravens (who have never been mistaken as an offensive powerhouse) are going to have to rely on quarterback Joe Flacco, a committee of three different running backs, and Derrick Mason as the top receiver to carry the load in the 2009 season, then Ravens fans had better buckle-up and prepare for a VERY bumpy ride!
