After edging out the Cincinnati Bengals in a prime-time division battle that was decided by an edge-of-your-seat final minute, Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr had a hard time hearing family, friends or people around M&T Bank Stadium encouraging him to enjoy the win.
“I was crushed,” he said.
Orr was grateful to have left Thursday night with the victory but said there was a reason he barely slept and arrived back at the team’s Owings Mills facility early Friday morning.
The Ravens’ defense allowed 421 passing yards, the most another team has managed against them all season. Cincinnati scored five touchdowns, tying a season-high against Baltimore, including two one-play scoring drives. But the Ravens eked out the 35-34 win by denying a late 2-point conversion attempt.
“Honestly, as a defense, we did enough to win that game,” Orr said. “Even thought it was by the skin of our teeth. We did enough to win the game, so enjoyed it for two seconds. But man, in this building, the standard is so high. That’s what we like.
“We have high expectations for ourselves. We’re real competitive. And when we don’t go out there and perform the way we should go perform, it hurts. I was hurtin’. It took me a couple days to get over that and move forward.”
There has been a lot of talk of “standard” the past week, in particular. That the Ravens’ defense hasn’t lived up to the years-long reputation set by their predecessors — carried through last year when Baltimore became the first triple-crown defense in NFL history, leading in points allowed, sacks and takeaways — has been a point of contention.
Coach John Harbaugh said he heard players say “that’s not the standard” to one another postgame. Cornerback and defensive leader Marlon Humphrey, who spoke introspectively for two minutes about the state of the defense, opined that this group “lost the standard” and took accountability.
On Thursday, green dot linebacker Roquan Smith called the margin of victory over the Bengals “embarrassing.” Orr acknowledged that he felt like they’ve “fallen short of the standard” several times this year.
Thus, coaches spent the long weekend back in the facility looking to work out the kinks. Orr said there was a film session with players that felt more like an open forum conversation, asking themselves, as Humphrey noted last week, what is the disconnect between what they’re accomplishing in practice that isn’t showing up for four quarters on Sunday (or Thursday or Monday)?
“It’s not just them,” Orr said. “I asked them, ‘What can I do better?’ Maybe I can cut out some things to make us lock in and focus better. … That’s what I think we’re continuing to try to find and chase.”
Smith didn’t unravel a spool of details from the private session. But he said one person’s mistake often leads to a second person trying to make up for it, and the whole group falls out of sync. It’s a couple plays in each game, Smith said without pointing a finger, that leave the team falling short.
Such film sessions accompanied by conversations are commonplace. But Orr, tightening his lip into a half smirk, said this one was a “real good conversation.”
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