There aren’t too many times in this league when a defense gives up a 50-yard touchdown, a 66-yard run, and a game-tying score from the opposition, and you think to yourself, “hey, they actually played pretty well.” That was the story on Sunday against the Vikings.
Aside from two plays, Minnesota’s offense was grounded all day. Baltimore faced a daunting challenge against Dalvin Cook, one of the game’s best running backs, and they took care of business.
Maintaining front side and back-side gap integrity is the most critical component of controlling a wide zone run scheme. Minus Brandon Williams, the defensive front controlled the action and knocked back the Vikings’ interior blockers to take away any stretch or perimeter lanes, along with cutback opportunities for Cook. Calais Campbell continued to be a man amongst boys, throwing grown men around like they were children. But Justin Madubuike also showed up consistently at the point of attack to win his matchups — something I’ve been waiting to see.
Not only were the big boys dialed in, the inside linebackers were arguably the best players on defense. Veteran Josh Bynes continues to set the standard with his ability to diagnose the run and read his keys so precisely. There was one stop he made in which he mirrored Cook so perfectly, you’d think he was channeling Ray Lewis.
Patrick Queen has taken his fair share of criticism. But there’s no question he’s playing the best football he’s played all year with Bynes by his side. His torpedo tackle of Cook eight yards behind the line of scrimmage on a “seek and destroy” gap splitting play was a thing of beauty.
What I really liked seeing was the overall resolve from the defense after giving up those initial haymakers from the Vikings. After they were torched for 40 points and a barrage of uppercuts against the Bengals before the bye, it would have been easy for that unit to start pressing yet again. In the first quarter of the game, the defense did look out of sorts, confused at times, and it seemed like another long game was coming.
Instead, they made it tough for the Vikings for the majority of the game. Tackling was much better. The mistakes — aside from the Justin Jefferson touchdown which looked like a communication breakdown between Marlon Humphrey and Chuck Clark — weren’t nearly as frequent.All in all, it was a reassuring showing from Don “Wink” Martindale’s group.
But…(and you knew that was coming), this defense still lacks playmaking ability.
The pass rush has been a no show for two games in a row after looking like a disruptive, emerging group through the Chargers game. They didn’t record a single sack against Kirk Cousins. Odafe Oweh has cooled down. Tyus Bowser and Justin Houston haven’t really chipped in either. Where are the line and stunt games up front? The loss of Derek Wolfe gets magnified by the day.
Lack of turnovers has also turned into a trend for this group. The loss of safety DeShon Elliott, one of the few playmaking threats on the team, certainly doesn’t help matters. This was already a secondary without Marcus Peters. (And they already miss his ability to make plays.)
Although the positive is that the defense was mostly suffocating against a talented group of Minnesota weapons, the lack of splash ability is still concerning.
When they face the better offenses in the AFC and NFC, will they hold up, especially when the schedule gets tougher down the stretch?
For now, with the way the offense has been playing, maybe settling for not giving up the big play versus generating big plays is good enough. Making the right reads, tackling well, and playing physical was a much-needed starting point for the back nine of the season.
