Dean Pees and the Ravens secondary have taken a whooping this week and rightly so considering the play of the suspect unit after Sunday’s heartbreaking loss to San Diego.
The blame can be shared by every individual in the troubled group and as our own Tony Lombardi pointed out on Wednesday, the brass making personnel decisions are just as at fault.
But I digress…
On Wednesday,as the Ravens held practice for their upcoming game against the Dolphins, cornerback Lardarius Webb spoke to the media at length regarding the huge need for improvement for the secondary and acknowledged it begins with him.
“The mentality is to get better – now. We don’t have [much] time. We have to go to work,” Webb said about the need to move forward. “We just got through going to work. We have to be a stronghold on this team. If we get our stuff together in the back end, then we will be a hell of a defense.”
While Webb’s words were heartfelt, we certainly can’t hold our breath expecting this group to get it together over the final four weeks of the season. What you see is what you get with Steve Spagnuolo’s unit.
Webb is no doubt the leader of the group as his veteran status indicates, yet he appears to be a shadow of the player he once was. No disrespect to him by any means but injuries take a toll on your body that no amount of rest and therapy can replace.
“Every season I’ve had things that were tough during each year. [I have had] things that I’ve learned from each year,” Webb remarked. “I guess it’s just part of playing ball. Each year you’re going to learn something different. I would say this year I learned and am still in the learning process of some things.
“But, in the end, when you learn those things while going through that learning process, you have to just keep fighting, keep competing, keep practicing, keep studying as hard [as you can] and just keep pushing a lot and pushing the guys around me. So, we will be fine.”
The Ravens have tried every option in the secondary to try and come up with a winning formula, yet they haven’t produced anything that would remotely strike fear in the hearts of opposing quarterbacks. “Practice makes perfect” and continuity breeds success as Harbaugh often says each and every training camp.
But not 14 weeks into the season.
“In the back end, we have a lot of starting-caliber safeties,” Webb stated. (seriously he said) “I can start naming all of them, and I think all our safeties can be back there starting. But there is so much talent, the coaches just make ways to shuffle them around, give them different packages, because we have so much talent in the back end.
“We have to get everything together, be on the same page, I would say. It doesn’t matter who is in there. They are all good; they all can play in the NFL. So, we just have to be on the same page in the back end – it doesn’t matter who is in there – and play ball.”
As fans we can only hope that someone in the defensive backfield makes us all eat crow and provides a much needed spark beginning on Sunday.
Some much needed scheme adjustments from Dean Pees wouldn’t be so bad either.
If not it could be an ugly end to the season.
Follow me on Twitter @sportguyRSR
