Baltimore Ravens: Just How Good is the Ravens Defense?
By Ben Palmer
The Baltimore Ravens defense has been one of the best, if not the best, defenses in the NFL this year. But just how much better are they than the rest of the league?
One of the main reasons that the Baltimore Ravens are competitive right now is their defense. The Ravens currently have the top-ranked defense in the NFL, they’re number one in total defense, number one in rushing yards given up per game, and number seven in passing yards given up per game.
It’s been a common theme when writing about the Ravens this year: if it weren’t for this defense, the Baltimore Ravens wouldn’t be even close to the playoff race. And that argument has some serious weight, because their offense hasn’t exactly been great.
But just how good has their defense been? Well their rushing defense has been absolutely incredible when you look at the stats. Football Outsiders has a metric they use called Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) which takes a number of factors into account to value each and every play of the NFL season, and assign a number value to each team’s defense.
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The Ravens run defense DVOA rating so far this year is -39.7%. For reference, the 2000 Ravens defense, considered one of the greatest defenses in the history of the NFL, had a run defense DVOA rating of -36.9%.
Comparing the Ravens defensive metrics to league averages really shows how dominant they’ve been, especially in their run defense. They’ve allowed 36 rushing first downs this year, the league average so far is 70. They’ve allowed 1.29 rushing yards after first contact, the league average is 1.61.
Their pass defense has been solid too, though not as dominant. The Ravens defense currently has 14 interceptions, second in the NFL behind the San Diego Chargers who have 15. The league average is 9.2, for reference.
The Ravens have also allowed the fifth-fewest passing yards in the NFL so far this season with 2,667 yards. They also have allowed the third-fewest yards per passing attempt in the league this year with 6.6 YPA.
In fact, if you compare the 2016 Ravens defense to the Super Bowl-winning 2000 Ravens defense during the same time span, the numbers aren’t that far off. The 2016 Ravens have allowed 17.3 points per game, the 2000 Ravens allowed 10.7.
The 2016 Ravens have allowed 4.9 yards per play, the 2000 Ravens allowed 4.3, the 2016 Ravens have allowed 3.4 rushing YPC with four touchdowns, the 2000 Ravens allowed 2.8 rushing YPC with four touchdowns.
I’m not saying that this year’s Ravens defense is 2000 Ravens good, but they have been exceptional this whole season, and they’re the main reason the Ravens are in the playoff hunt.
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They’ll have their work cut out for them tonight against New England Patriots, but if any team can shut down Tom Brady, it’s the Baltimore Ravens.