The Ravens rely on stealth defense. Nobody was deceived.

The best thing the Ravens defense did on Sunday was like one of the worst things it did on Sunday – until the very end, anyway. Then everything tends to fall apart. That’s where the pass defense was one of the best in the NFL just a year ago, now it looks like one of the worst.

Both plays took place about a quarter of an hour apart for the Ravens. a stunning 29-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Strategically, defensive coordinator Zach Orr had similar intentions: combine the offense’s pass protection responsibilities with a high-pressure look at the line of scrimmage. Drop defenders to the second level to prevent quick releases from the middle. Move the deep safety at the snap to confuse the quarterback’s initial read.

The first piece worked like a dream. Late in the second quarter, safety Kyle Hamilton timed the offense perfectly, circling the left side of the Browns’ line unmarked as cornerback Arthur Maulet, who was feigning a quick look down the right side, ran into coverage. Quarterback Jameis Winston had barely made it to the end of the fall when Hamilton slammed into his back, knocking the ball away and forcing a turnover. The Ravens recovered at the Cleveland 25-yard line and scored a touchdown less than a minute later.

But this other art? Nightmare. Late in the third quarter, with Cleveland facing third-and-5 at the Ravens’ 22, the Ravens defense mistakenly lined up without an edge rusher over Browns left guard Dawand Jones. As outside linebacker Odafe Oweh ran toward the goal, Winston threw the ball. Maulet’s flash from his blind side was unmarked, but that didn’t matter. Winston quickly threw into space where safety Eddie Jackson had just left as the defense switched from high coverage coating for a high look. Wide receiver Cedric Tillman caught the ball near the Ravens’ 15, wasn’t touched until around the 5, and moments later reached the end zone for his first career touchdown.

Under coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens want to disrupt opposing quarterbacks. This can be difficult when not everyone on defense understands the situation.

“We’re trying to keep people guessing,” Harbaugh said Monday. “It’s a big part of our defense and the execution was good for the most part, but there were a lot of moments where it wasn’t good.”

Sunday marked a new underperformance for the Ravens’ defense, allowing 334 passing yards to the NFL’s worst aerial attack under defensive starter Deshaun Watson. Needing one last stop to maintain the lead late in Cleveland, the Ravens gave up 74 passing yards on the Browns’ final possession, with the final 38 coming on Winston’s decisive last-minute touchdown to Tillman.

The Ravens now enter Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos with an unpleasant scoreboard. Most passes allowed in the NFL (2,331). Most touchdown passes allowed in the NFL (17). Most missed interceptions in the NFL (eight, according to Pro Football Focus).

If schematic surprise could be measured, the Ravens would likely lead the NFL in this one as well. The deficiencies in coverage derailed the defense in almost every matchthis trend becomes all the more irritating due to the relative continuity of the team’s defensive system. When rising star coordinator Mike Macdonald was named head coach of the Seattle Seahawks last offseason, Harbaugh handpicked Orr, then the Ravens’ middle linebackers coach, become the unit’s new interlocutor.

(Defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson subsequently left to become Tennessee’s defensive coordinator, currently allowing the fewest passing yards per game in the NFL).

For eight weeks, Orr exploited the hallmarks of Macdonald’s plan, but did not achieve the same success. The pre-snap tricks that baffled quarterbacks last year won’t really fool anyone this year.

But it’s not about lack of trying. According to Field VisionThe 2023 Ravens hid their coverage – typically showing two highs and then switching to one high just before the snap or vice versa – in 41.3% of their games, one of the highest rates in the league. Ravens 2024 are at the level of 41.5%.

The 2023 Ravens deployed simulated pressure — in which the threat of five or more pass rushers forces offenses to adjust their guarding and stopping blockers, and the defense sent just four pass rushers behind the quarterback — on 27.4% of their plays. also one of the highest rates in the league. The 2024 Ravens are at 26%.

“You can’t just go up against these guys too often and just show them the ropes,” Harbaugh said. “Doing it with (Joe) Burrows and these guys, it’s hard, so that’s what we’ve always done. We were a big band in costume. We were a big team (under simulated pressure). We attacked from both sides. We showed attacks one way, we attacked the other and we ran out of it. We showed one way and came this way. We showed the advantage and found ourselves in the middle. We try to keep it moving.”

The imitation didn’t lead the Ravens to a duplication, but not because of a sudden inability to fool quarterbacks. A review of the 59 “explosive” passes (gain of at least 16 yards) that defenses have allowed this year, by far the most in the NFL, found disguise failures in only a dozen cases. The rest were more standard execution errors: lost one-on-one battles, missed holes in zones, missed tackles in the open field, allowed chaos outside the structure. Some uneven pass rush also didn’t patch many holes.

Still, the Ravens’ efforts to change the picture are instructive. No one in the back was immune to mistakes. In Week 1, Hamilton never entered his designated zone, freeing Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy for a wide-open 35-yard touchdown.

In Week 3, safety Marcus Williams’ positional issues following late-game turnovers helped open up several throwing lanes for Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson.

In Week 5, cornerback Marlon Humphrey and Jackson defended the same patch of grass as the Ravens went from a two-point score to one score, giving Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase the runway he needed to run under a 41-pass to yard touchdown.

In Week 6, center fielders Roquan Smith and Trenton Simpson found themselves in no man’s land after one masked look that resulted in a 28-yard field goal to Washington Commanders wide receiver Noah Brown.

“We come in every week, we work hard in practice – we just have to let it translate into the game,” Jackson said after Sunday’s game. “The coach puts us in such a situation that we can play such actions. We just have to get out of this mess we’re in.”

The Ravens have already done that. In 2022, Macdonald’s first year as coordinator in Baltimore, his defense has allowed more passing yards through the first eight games (2,134) than all but four teams this season. But over the next nine games, the Ravens, boosted by Smith’s midseason trade, allowed the 11th fewest passing yards.

On paper, the Ravens have a more talented defensive core. It also has a much stronger attack. But now it’s Orr’s show. The challenge is to determine which of Macdonald’s magic tricks may still work in this defense. Only then will the Ravens be able to develop a routine that works for them.

“We’re going to keep doing it better and better, and I don’t know if we’re going to get it perfect, but we’re going to keep trying,” Harbaugh said, “or we’re going to die hard.”