Roquan Smith Leading Ravens Defensive Surge
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens have held three of their last four opponents to fewer than 14 points.
Baltimore did not allow a touchdown to the Carolina Panthers or Denver Broncos over that stretch.
That success has coincided with the addition of inside linebacker Roquan Smith, who has 31 tackles and one sack in four games with the Ravens.
“I’m very impressed with him," coach John Harbaugh said. "Roquan has played at a very high level … All the guys have played at a high level on defense of late. He’s obviously been a little bit of a spark for us too, I think you could say that for sure. I love him; I love the fact that he’s here and love his attitude and everything, and [I] feel that way about all our guys on defense.”
In their past nine games dating back to Week 4, Baltimore's defense has allowed 288.0 yards per game, which ranks as the NFL's second-best mark during this span. Washington is first at 282.8 y.p.g permitted.
The Ravens have also been outstanding on third-down during this stretch, limiting opponents to a league-best 30.8% success rate.
Harbaugh admitted has some struggles in the final two minutes of both halves in terms of yards and points allowed.
That continues to be an area of focus.
"We work on all those things all the time, and that’s very critical in the National Football League," Harbaugh said. "The last two minutes – obviously – a lot of these games are one-score games. Games are won all the time at the end, and once again, it happened this week again. When you look around the whole league, it’s like that.
"So, that part of it for us, defensively and offensively, is just critical. So, just every week [we] get out there, try to prepare for it and try to be as prepared as we can to do the best we can in that situation, because oftentimes it will come down to that.”
