(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
The Baltimore Ravens are looking like a serious threat to emerge from the AFC as they took home another impressive win on Thursday Night Football against their division rivals the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Ravens dropped 34 points in the victory, but perhaps more impressively their defense was dominant when they needed them to be.
Throughout the 2023 NFL season, Baltimore’s defense has arguably been the best in the league as they don’t make it easy on offenses.
The Ravens are stout at all levels of the field, and a lot of that has to do with Roquan Smith’s versatility in both run and pass coverage.
Smith has been one of the best linebackers in the NFL the past couple of seasons, and he’s currently having a career-year.
In fact, Smith has almost single-handedly turned around the Ravens’ defense since he arrived last year via PFF.
The Roquan Smith effect pic.twitter.com/5ncCblsqvn
— PFF (@PFF) November 17, 2023
The graphic shows that Baltimore’s defense was struggling in multiple areas, but Smith’s arrival changed things dramatically as they are now either the outright leaders or close to it in those same stats.
Having Smith on the field allows the Ravens to play all sorts of coverages and their multiplicity can be confusing for other teams to figure out in real time.
Even though high-scoring teams are the rage right now in the league, Baltimore is showing how elite they are on both sides of the field.
Defensively, there might not be another team that can stack up with all the talent of the Ravens and Smith could be the missing piece they’ve needed to win it all.
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