The hits keep coming for the Ravens secondary as it appears Asa Jackson is headed to injured reserve with a designation to return around week ten of the season.
On Tuesday, the Ravens announced the re-signing of veteran cornerback Dominique Franks who will join a unit that has left a lot to be desired except for the play of shutdown corner Jimmy Smith.
With week fives game against the Colts in the books and the Ravens sitting with a 3-2 record, it appears the team is doing everything in their power to produce something positive in their defensive backfield.
The signing of Franks made the most sense for organization as he has a vast knowledge of Dean Pees defense after spending much of training camp running with the second and third team defenses. It appears as if the Ravens were not comfortable and thankfully so with four year corner Chykie Brown serving as “next man up” prior to Franks re-signing.
On a positive note for the struggling secondary is the re-emergence of Ladarius Webb who played in his first full game of 2014 last week playing 45 snaps.
While Webb had a few cobwebs to shake loose, the veteran corner played well and should only get better as he gets his legs back under him.
As shaky as the secondary has been, to place the blame solely on them wouldn’t be fair to the group that ranks 27th overall against the pass, allowing 269.2 yards a game.
A solid secondary is only as good as the defense’s ability to establish and maintain an effective pass rush, something the Ravens are struggling to do.
So as the Ravens set their sights on their upcoming game against the Buccaneers in Tampa, let’s hope the defense and more importantly the secondary can take advantage of the leagues 29th ranked pass offense.
If not, it’s time to sound the alarm.
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