Head Coach John Harbaugh gave his embattled defense a vote of confidence Monday afternoon following a 37-20 loss in Kansas City.
“I have confidence in all our guys, including [Defensive Coordinator] Zach [Orr] and our players, our coaches,” Harbaugh said.
“I watch our guys every day. I watch how they work. I watch how well they coach. I’m in meetings, I watch the meetings, I know our schemes that we’re running. I know the soundness of what we’re doing. I understand what we’re up against from week to week and play to play.”
Baltimore’s defense has given up the most points (33.3 per game) and second-most yards (406.8 per game) in the NFL through four weeks. Only three teams have fewer takeaways (two) and one team has fewer sacks (four).
On top of that, the Ravens defense is dealing with an onslaught of injuries that will make a rebound more challenging.
Inside linebacker Roquan Smith (hamstring) and cornerback Marlon Humphrey (calf) are reportedly expected to miss multiple games. Cornerback Nate Wiggins also left Sunday’s loss early with an elbow injury. The entire starting defensive line is injured, with Nnamdi Madubuike (neck) done for the season.
The Ravens were forced to rely on reserves in Kansas City. At one point, they had five rookies playing on defense against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense, which punted just once the whole game.
Yet when Harbaugh watched the tape of the Ravens’ loss, he came away feeling better than he did on the sideline in Kansas City.
“I felt better watching the tape – a lot better,” Harbaugh said. “I felt like there was a lot of really good play going on. I think the things that were issues were very definable and also sometimes the result of some real tight plays being made by them in some situations.”
The Chiefs offense was healthy and got speedy wide receiver Xavier Worthy back on the field. Mahomes executed at a high level, throwing four touchdown passes. The Ravens held the Chiefs to 5-of-15 on third down, but Kansas City was 4-for-4 on fourth down.
Harbaugh said the Ravens need to “create some things” on defense with sacks, takeaways, tackles for loss, etc.
“We’re not too far away on defense,” Harbaugh said. “I really feel confident that we’re going to play really good defense this year. I really am.
“I know fans hear that, and I hope they have a little bit of confidence that we’ve been down this road before a little bit. We do need to get healthy, for sure. That’s an important part of it, as well. But also play with the guys that we’ve got and let’s go play some good defense.”