When the Browns on Sunday take the field in Baltimore, there’s going to be ghosts out there, and no not because Halloween is in a few weeks.
The Ravens defense for years has been one of the best, most hyped up defenses in the NFL. With future Hall of Fame players like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, to former run stuffer Haloti Ngata to linebacker Terrell Suggs, Baltimore has for years leaned on its defense.
Things have changed for the Ravens the past season or two, as the defense is by no means the formidable foe that it’s been in years past. The trash talking is still there, and the physical play is still a Ravens staple, but the playmakers like Lewis and Reed are gone.
The one mainstay of that defense is also gone for the rest of 2015 in Suggs, who went down in the first week of the season in a loss in Denver.
The Ravens slumped to an 0-3 start before winning a huge game in week four in overtime in Pittsburgh. Their defense has had moments of playing well, but also can be both thrown and run on, which the Browns will look to do Sunday.
That doesn’t mean that the Browns are not fully aware that Baltimore’s defense isn’t going to try to play like years past.
“Let me tell you, the Baltimore Ravens defense, believe me, is as disciplined a group and as well coached of a group that we will see all year.” Browns OC John DeFilippo said Thursday.
One area where the Browns may want to challenge the Ravens is in the run game. Through four games Baltimore is allowing an average of 104 yards per game on the ground.
Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson Jr. could finally have the type of breakout games on the ground the Browns have been waiting for. It surly will take the pressure off Josh McCown having to outscore the opposition on his own like the Browns QB nearly did last week in San Diego.
“It is going to be a great challenge, great challenge, a very different defense than I think we played last week,” DeFilippo said of the run game.
“These guys are stout guys. (Ravens LB Courtney) Upshaw is a big man. Those backers are big people. The secondary are big people. It is going to be a challenge for us to move those guys. We are going to do hopefully as good of job as we did last week. I like our plan against these guys.”
If there’s one player that has seen the Ravens way too much over the years it’s Joe Thomas. The Browns OT has played against the best, including Lewis, Reed and Suggs.
“The two big ones that are not there that have been there for a long time are obviously (Lions DL) Haloti Ngata and (Ravens DL) Terrell Suggs,” Thomas said.
“Being potential Hall of Famers, that is a big difference. No matter who you put in there, they have big shoes to fill. It is certainly a much different defense than we have seen for years and years in Baltimore. Since I was a rookie, it was always (former Ravens FS) Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, (former Ravens LB) Ray Lewis and Haloti Ngata.
“Then, they add a lot of other good players around them, but those were kind of the nucleus core guys. None of those guys are there anymore. They have some new guys coming in that are playing really well, some young guys and some guys like (Ravens DL) Elvis Dumervil, who is obviously having a tremendous career. He is in there picking up where Suggs left off as a sack master and playing awesome.
“They definitely have a bunch of weapons, but there are a lot different faces than the historic Browns battles that I have been a part of.”
Mike Pettine knows that losing Suggs has meant a lot to the outlook of the Ravens defense, but that doesn’t mean the Browns can sit back and take for granted they will be able to have a big day on offense Sunday.
“Anytime you lose a perennial Pro Bowl player like that, impact player like that it’s going to have some effect, but still, they play well as a unit,” Pettine said.
“Even though they don’t have him, they’re still – with (Ravens LB Courtney) Upshaw, (Ravens LB Elvis) Dumervil – very capable on the edges. Like I said, that front seven as I said the other day, that’s as stout a front seven as we’ll go against.”
Here’s hoping those ghosts of Ravens defenses’ past won’t show up on Sunday, and that the Browns offense will be able to take advantage of those missing from the 2015 Baltimore defense.
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