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“Big D” Back in Baltimore?

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By: Dave Tieff

Baltimore loves defense.

Scratch that… Baltimore IS defense.

When the Ravens defense isn’t dominating, we aren’t even sure who we’re watching. It’s like a bunch of purple impostors running around like the Keystone Cops. Nothing in life makes sense.

Sure, it’s fine to win a game 35 to 31 — we’ll take it. But let’s be honest, as a Ravens fan, you would rather win 24 to 10 and bludgeon the other team in the process. Defensive firepower is part of the Baltimore DNA. It’s what made the Ravens the Ravens—and galvanized the purple and black fanbase from early on. 

After winning Super Bowl XXXV with a historically dominant defense, Baltimore cemented a permanent identity in the process . That’s something few NFL teams can claim. Even some franchises that have been around for half a century or more. 

The Baltimore Ravens became the team with the “Big D.” The defense that would humiliate, suffocate, and flat out embarrass their opponent.

Hence, the saying we all know so well…

“Play Like A Raven.”

Admittedly, the Ravens aren’t the only pro team with that semi-ubiquitous mantra — but they are one of very few teams where you actually know what it means.

In Detroit, for example, is there a sign hanging up in the locker room that says “Play like a Lion? If so…what does that mean? Lose on Thanksgiving??

Or what about “Play like a Steeler?” Even that doesn’t have a good ring to it — and I don’t think it sends a good message. I taught my sons at an early age never to steel.

“Play like a…Brown??” I suppose there’s a whiff of truth there — but we’ll just leave that alone.

We must give Super Bowl champion and former head coach, Brian Billick, his due props for establishing what it meant to “play like a Raven” with one simple quote: 

When you go into the lion’s den, you don’t tippy-toe in — you carry a spear. You go in screaming like a banshee and say ‘where’s the son-of-a-bitch!?”

That quote still gives me goosebumps. (I say it often to my tax guy)

That…my purple and black brethren…is what it means to play like a Raven. Everyone knows it — you, me, and every team that the Ravens face.

The Ravens are synonymous with being nasty, physical, freakishly athletic bullies on defense — the way blue crabs go with Old Bay. It just can’t be any other way. Every player, fan, coach, announcer and analyst in the NFL recognizes this. We’ve heard it every football Sunday for the last 20 years.

But when the Ravens don’t play like it, the other teams and their fans revel in it , and much like a swirling wind off of the Chesapeake–it blows. When the Ravens gave up double digit fourth-quarter leads earlier in the season, they weren’t just painful losses. They were a loss of identity. 

We collectively suffered from “D” envy, knowing that Lewis, Reed, T- Sizzle and company would never have allowed such calamities to occur. 

So we lamented.

Those meltdowns were all reminders that the days of having a cachet of first ballot Hall of Famers on defense were over. Lewis and Reed were not walking through those doors,and maybe, just maybe, the identity was gone forever.

Enter Roquan Smith.

At age 25, it’s far too early to call Smith a Hall Of Famer, but in his seven games with the Ravens, he hasn’t just improved the defense — he has transformed it. He’s among the league leaders in tackles, but forget the stats for a minute and just trust what your eyes are telling you.

He is a ball magnet — a physical nightmare who always seems to be in the right position, making key tackles in the most critical moments. He’s the beast in the middle that the Ravens have been missing since #52 left the building. He’s the guy that makes every other player on the defense better.

In other words , he plays like a ******* Raven!

Baltimore Bullies

Eric DeCosta, who hasn’t exactly aced his draft picks since taking over GM duties, seems to fare much better in free agency. Paying Roquan the league minimum of $575,000, while making the Bears pay the remaining $4.8 million for a couple of draft picks may be EDC’s pièce de résistance. If the Ravens don’t sign Smith to a long term deal after this season, I may pack up and move to Indianapolis in the middle of the night.

Smith was everywhere he needed to be in the Ravens 17–9 victory over the Falcons, including making the crucial 3rd-and-1 stop on Atlanta’s final drive. Throw in an eye-popping 15 combined tackles, and he’s quickly become the center of the Ravens defense. The straw that stirs the proverbial drink.

As for the rest of the Ravens D, the future looks tantalizingly bright. You will never catch me comparing mere mortals to Ed Reed, but Marcus Williams has shown signs of being the ball-hawking, play making, center fielder that the Ravens have yearned for—since Reed made his last interception as a Raven at the Super Bowl in 2013.

Remember that? Lewis and Reed? Lombardi Trophy? Confetti falling? Like me, you remember it like it was yesterday. But, like the hair on the balding crown of your head, you were afraid you would never see it again. 

Roquan Smith and Marcus Williams may not be Lewis and Reed, but they just may be the Rogaine that Ravens fans have been craving for the last 10 years. If you have a full head of hair, just bear with me–it’s a deeply personal metaphor. 

Marlon Humphrey played like the perennial pro bowler that he is on Saturday. Along with lockdown coverage, his signature “fruit punch” caused a fumble on what would have been a huge 4th-and-3 conversion for the Falcons. Patrick Queen and Kyle Hamilton have both shown improvement and play making ability, emerging as the young players we all wanted for Christmas. In short, the entire unit has been playing like Ravens as of late, giving up an average of less than 12 points in their last 4 games.

The echoes of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, their leadership, and their play making abilities will never leave M&T BANK Stadium. They lurk the grounds and infect the spirit of every Ravens fan and every Ravens player. It’s all part of our lineage. Players who are that elite may never come again, and we should be grateful that we got to watch them and their excellence while it lasted. But the torch needs to be passed — because this is what turns great teams into great franchises for generations.

Baltimore is the quintessential underdog city — and we like it that way. Since the day that Johnny U and the Colts won a championship and put Baltimore (and the entire NFL) on the map in 1958, we have been the perpetual David Vs. Goliath. We are the kid that you thought you could pick on until you got punched in the face. We are the team and the city that carries a spear — and a “Big D.” 

The Ravens may have done some tippy-toeing earlier in the season, but lately the defense has been screaming like banshees, and now that they have clinched a playoff berth, it’s about time to ask…

“Where’s the son-of-a-bitch!?”

[Ravens Report Card]

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