It isn’t a huge secret that Dean Pees defensive unit has long used the mantra of being a “bend but don’t break” style of defense.
As the Ravens set their sights on the Carolina Panthers 20th ranked offense, the Ravens 16th ranked defense, especially the secondary, must find a way to stop quarterback Cam Newton and his 10th ranked passing offense.
“First of all, [Cam Newton] has a cannon for an arm. And second of all, he’s a very athletic quarterback who – once he gets out of the pocket – he’s not only a threat to throw the ball, he’s just as equal a threat to run the ball,” Pees stated following practice on Thursday.
“This is one of the best athletes in the NFL, and he’s a big guy. Like I said, he has gotten – to me – over the last couple years more accurate than when he was a rookie, and he has a big arm. You have to defend the whole field. There [are] some quarterbacks that can’t throw an out route from the opposite sideline; he’s not one of those.”
“He can throw it on a rope. So, you have to defend the whole field, and you have to do a great job of keeping him and containing him in the pocket and making him throw from the pocket. Once he gets out, it’d be a headache.”
Last week against the Browns, far too often the secondary gave up the all too familiar “big play” instead of providing their own big plays.
Safety Matt Elam struggled mightily and turned in perhaps his worst game of his short NFL career. Pees is hoping there isn’t any communication issues with his players this time around.
“Sure, it’s all correctable. There wasn’t anything [Matt Elam] did that he can’t correct,” said Pees about Elam’s mistakes last weekend.
“There wasn’t anything like … Sometimes a guy goes up and makes a big catch over the top of you, or something like that. A.J. Green, or anybody, Calvin Johnson, any of them make a big catch over a guy; they make a big catch over a guy. So, that’s something that you say, ‘Hey, the guy got you.’ But everything that happened to us on Sunday big play-wise is easily corrected, and it has to be corrected.”
Returning to practice today was cornerback Jimmy Smith making life a little easier for Pee’s defensive group given the lack of depth at the position. It’s likely the young corner will be responsible for shadowing Panthers rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin.
“[Jimmy Smith is] not only pivotal because of [Kelvin Benjamin], he’s pivotal, because he’s a heck of a corner,” Pees told the media about the return of Smith.
“It’s not like we have tremendous depth back there either, and we need everybody that we can get, whether it’s against [the Panthers] or against anybody coming up. Jimmy [is] one of our best players on defense, and it’s important for us to have him on the field.”
One way things could certainly be corrected is if the Ravens defensive front can formulate a pass rush and keep Newton in the pocket.
The Ravens defense as a whole has posted just three sacks on the young season, two by veteran linebacker Elvis Dumervil and the other by Courtney Upshaw.
As the Ravens look to keep pace in the AFC North this weekend at home, there’s no better time for Pees to mix it up a bit and attack instead of putting the defense into those “bend but don’t break” scenarios.
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