Team Should Return to Its Defensive Roots
When people around the country think of the best Ravens teams, they think of physical football. They think of defense, or at least they used to. Isn’t it time for the Ravens to reclaim their lost identity?
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There are things that Baltimoreans embrace like steamed crabs, juicy red tomatoes, Natty Boh and smash mouth football. And here in the Land of Pleasant Living you can still get all of the above, except the smash mouth football.
The NFL has become a glorified arena football league driven by fantasy football aficionados. High scoring is sexy, the ultimate prize in the modern day, and just like the garbage on cable TV, it sells. Sex sells!
But in Baltimore, we don’t buy it. We believe that running the football, protecting the football, winning field position with great special teams play and fielding a great defense is a tried and true formula for success – a formula that somehow the Ravens have gotten away from. And that goes against the grain of Baltimore’s football DNA.
A few years ago Ozzie Newsome said that he wanted to build a team that had the ability to win both a shootout and a defensive struggle. If memory serves me correctly, he’s already had that.
During the 2000 season the Ravens won a couple of shootouts by the scores of 39-36 and 34-20. They also produced four shutouts.
The Ravens didn’t have a high-powered offense in 2000. Quite the contrary! Few need to be reminded that the team went 21 consecutive quarters without a touchdown. Yet they won a Super Bowl in convincing fashion because the team was rooted in the fundamentals of defense, winning field position, controlling the clock and taking the ball away far more than they gave it up.
The Broncos and even the Chiefs reminded us in 2015 that the formula still works despite Roger Goodell’s attempts to build the greatest flag football league of all time.
THAT formula fits Baltimore. The formula feels like home.
And the Wizard of Oz of all people should know, there’s no place like home.
