Acquisition of Roquan Smith Pays Immediate Dividends for Ravens

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Roquan Smith almost immediately made his presence felt in his debut for the Ravens.

Early in the first quarter, Smith thumped Saints running back Alvin Kamara on consecutive plays, including no gain on a 3rd-and-one.

This is why the Ravens brought in Roquan Smith! 😤 pic.twitter.com/k6EnqTniW3
— PFF BAL Ravens (@PFF_Ravens) November 8, 2022

That helped set the tone for the Ravens defense that held Kamara to just 30 yards rushing ‚— his lowest output of the season — in the 27-13 victory.

Baltimore also limited New Orleans to 3-of-11 (27%) on third down and to a season-low 13 total first downs.

Smith finished with five tackles.

“He played very well," coach John Harbaugh said. "Roquan made a few tackles in the run game; they were running some of the RPOs in there, and he slipped in there and made a couple of tackles on plays that could have gone a little further. He’s a heck of a player, a heck of a guy. To come in and learn the defense that quickly says a lot about him. So, the defense deserves a lot of credit."

The @Ravens are playing some of the best football in the entire NFL and are positioned for a playoff run in the second half of the season.#RavensFlock https://t.co/KZN6Mbh6yh via @toddkarpovich
— Todd Karpovich (@toddkarpovich) November 8, 2022

With Smith on the field, fellow inside linebacker Patrick Queen was also freed up to make plays and he stacked another solid game. Queen also finished with five tackles and one pass defensed.

“It’s amazing, just being out there with my new teammates," Smith said. "Those guys have been very welcoming to me throughout the week, the coaches taking time to teach me things, man, it was amazing. I’m just excited for what we have in store.”

Overall, the Ravens sacked Saints quarterback Andy Dalton four times. Coming into the game, Dalton has been sacked four times the entire season.

Outside linebacker, Justin Houston, who finished with 2.5 sacks and an interception, was impressed by how Smith impacted the game.

"I know there was a third and one and he just came out of nowhere," Houston said. 'He’s going to help this defense a lot to be where we want to be. We needed a guy like that, and I am so happy we were able to get him. I think that was crazy for them [Chicago] to let him go. I think he is one of the best linebackers in the game and to add him to this defense, that’s scary.”