Ravens DC Mike Macdonald goes into detail on blitzing tendencies

The Baltimore Ravens were known as an aggressive blitzing defense under former defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale. However, when Martindale and the Ravens parted ways, they replaced him with former Michigan defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, who has dialed down the aggressiveness and implemented his new style of defense.

Macdonald didn’t blitz a lot in his first year as the team’s defensive coordinator, but that has changed over the course of the 2023 season so far. When asked about why he’s been more in favor of blitzing this season, Macdonald talked about how they want to have the ability to do so at any given point.

“Well, it’s something that we want the ability to do at any given point. So, to have the threat of blitz on either side or up the middle or double edge or whatever, you always want that threat to an offense. So, that’s just part of our identity. You might not have seen it last year for several reasons – probably what we felt like our team strengths were and how good we were at the different pressure packages that we were able to get to. So, it’s still a gameplan idea, but it’s something that we’re definitely going to carry and have the ability to get to at any point in time.”