The Baltimore Ravens are a team with high expectations. ESPN has projected them as the number one starting lineup in the NFL. Gennaro Filice, writing for the NFL’s website, has the Ravens as the number three defense in the league. There are Super Bowl expectations in Baltimore after coming up just short the last two seasons, and to get there, Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr’s unit will need to be prepared to finally get over the hump.
Orr, in his debut season as a defensive coordinator, experienced a true roller coaster year. The Ravens started the season by giving up over 26 points per game in the first few months, but after Week 9, they transformed into the number one scoring defense, allowing 16.9 points per game. Orr is building off that end-of-season success and taking it into training camp.
Getting Off to a Faster Start
The top priority for the Ravens’ defense heading into training camp this season is getting off to a fast start. The second-half turnaround the team made was nearly miraculous, but Zach Orr knows that the Ravens need to hit the ground running. In a July 26 article for the Ravens website, writer Ryan Mink detailed why Orr feels more confident coming into this season.
“We’re light years ahead of where we were at,” Orr said. “We’ve still got a long way to go, but we’re ahead of where we were at last year.”
Starting fast will be critical for the Ravens this season due to their strength of schedule early in the season. Four of their first five games are against teams that made it to at least the second round of the playoffs. So far, though, Orr is happy with his team’s efforts in camp.
“We have to put action behind it. But so far, it’s throughout the spring and this first week of training camp, the action’s been real good, so I’m happy with the group,” Orr said.
Leaders Stepping Up
One reason for the Ravens defense’s strong start to camp has been the team’s veteran leadership, including the addition of former All-Pro Jaire Alexander from the Green Bay Packers.
Alexander discussed with WBALTV’s Pete Gilbert the importance of building team chemistry, noting that members of the Ravens defense have also been hanging out after practice.
“Once you build that chemistry, you bridge that gap,” Alexander said. “Once you all are close, you know how he’s going to play… You know he has got your back. That’s just the biggest thing right now, building chemistry.”
Linebacker Roquan Smith is another Ravens leader who has made sure the team is coming into the season fully prepared. Smith, like the rest of the team, had a slow start in 2024 before coming along in the second half of the year. He knows that this year he needs to put himself in a position to have a faster start, as he told Brian Wacker of The Baltimore Sun.
“It’s about being in good shape and having a clear understanding of what’s going on. For myself, eating better and taking better care of myself and [making] sure I’m taking care of that and not letting it grow into something else.”
The Ravens’ defense is focused as a unit coming into the 2025 season, knowing that to reach the Super Bowl and live up to their potential, they must start strong.
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