DeCosta Says Ravens Need to Be More Aggressive Creating Turnovers

Ravens also struggled with injuries.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens struggled to create turnovers this past season, which led to some of the struggles with the defense.

Baltimore had just 15 takeaways — nine interceptions and six fumbles— that were its fewest since 2015 and third-worst in the league behind the New York Jets (14) and Jacksonville Jaguars (9). 

In six games against AFC North opponents, the Ravens had a minus-8 turnover ratio. 

Coach John Harbaugh parted ways with defensive coordinator Don Martindale after the season and hired Mike Macdonald, who held the same position at Michigan after serving as the Ravens' linebackers coach.

"I would say, just in general, especially on the back end, our inability this year to create turnovers was probably an issue for us, and I would love to see us make the play this year coming up – intercept more passes, cause more fumbles, be more disruptive," Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said. "So, if the opportunity presents itself and we see a dynamic corner or a dynamic safety, of course, that would be something that would be attractive to us.

"When you play these teams – when you play the Steelers, when you play the Browns, when you play the Bengals – twice a year and you see their skill players, it becomes imperative that we always have a strong back end, with good players and depth, as well." 

The Ravens were decimated with injuries. Both starting cornerbacks — Marcus Peters and Marlon Humphrey — were lost for the season. Safety DeShon Elliott also suffered a season-ending injury.

So, Baltimore was never at full strength. 

DeCosta is hopeful the Ravens have better luck with injuries this season and do a better job with the takeaways. 

"As we saw this year, with the attrition that we faced in the secondary, it just overwhelmed us towards the end of the year, and it wasn’t the players’ fault; I guess it was my fault," DeCosta said. "We just didn’t have enough good corners; we just didn’t have enough guys. At some points, we had a lot of guys that had been on the street or on practice squads playing, and that’s unfortunate. When you lose the quality of players of guys like Marlon [Humphrey] and Marcus and Anthony [Averett] and DeShon and others, it does take a toll eventually."