Courtesy: Timothy Ludwig – USA TODAY Sports
With rosters across the NFL finally cut down to 53 players, the make-up of each organization is starting to take shape.
Despite the Baltimore Ravens going undefeated throughout the pre-season, there are still questions that loom heading into their regular season opening game at home against the Cincinnati Bengals.
One of the chief concerns many are having heading into Week One is the secondary as their is a mix of injuries and inexperience plaguing a team that is traditionally known for being sound defensively.
The injuries are out of Baltimore’s control. They can’t predict how healthy their players can be at any given time. They can’t expedite the process of rehabilitation. That’s why some are questioning as to why the Ravens only kept four corners on their final 53-man roster. They could have controlled that, especially with their top three corners battling injuries.
Lardarius Webb, Jimmy Smith and Asa Jackson will be Baltimore’s top three corners when healthy, but they didn’t receive as many reps as top corners typically garner due to their inability to stay healthy and head coach John Harbaugh taking the safe route. He kept his guys healthy as they could be during games that do not matter. Some may criticize, but going undefeated in the pre-season or trying to force starters onto the field won’t win any bonus points after the NFL kicks off in Seattle on Thursday.
However, Webb hasn’t seen any game action thus far during the 2014 campaign and Smith and Jackson missed the final two games of the pre-season. They will not be in top form and depth is a concern given that cornerback Chykie Brown is the only other true corner on the roster. While Brown has some experience in working with the top two units, he still has issues circling his head back to the football when the ball is in the air.
And that’s why cutting Derek Cox was somewhat puzzling.
Sure, he was cut by the Minnesota Vikings earlier this pre-season, but he has starter experience. He was let go by the Ravens after a solid performance in Baltimore’s final pre-season game against the New Orleans Saints and has not joined the practice squad with one spot left remaining. Tramain Jacobs was brought back to the practice squad instead.
Even though the Ravens could have all three of these guys healthy enough to participate against the Bengals, relying on rookie free safety Terrence Brooks and reserve strong safety Anthony Levine to provide depth at the cornerback position is enough to raise a few eyebrows.
It also doesn’t help when the franchise lacks depth and experience at the safety spots as well. In letting go veteran James Ihedigbo via free agency to the Detroit Lions this past off-season, it has allowed second-year strong safety Matt Elam to return to his natural college position. Elam struggled at times playing free due to his size limitations and his attempt at learning a new position on the fly as more of a quarterback of the defense as opposed to playing closer to the line of scrimmage as a strong safety often does. It’s still his second year and Baltimore needs him to be more consistent this year and not bite on too many big plays.
Courtesy: BaltimoreRavens.com
And that’s because free safety is a looming question that has yet to really be answered. The Ravens do have veterans in Darian Stewart and Jerome Miles at that spot, but they are more known for their contributions on special teams as opposed to being every down defensive players. This is why the Ravens wanted 2014’s third-round choice Terrence Brooks to win the job, but he hasn’t… yet.
Brooks showed flashes during the Ravens’ third — and typically the most meaningful — pre-season game against the Washington Redskins. He kept Robert Griffin III contained, played well around the line of scrimmage and the secondary and had an interception called back after a penalty. But he still has work to do and he knows it.
When reading this article from The Baltimore Sun, it is clear that Brooks still has a lot of mental preparations and learning to grasp at this level before he can set foot across the white lines as a regular.
It’s kind of similar to the debate about why Kyle Juszczyk didn’t see the field outside of special teams snaps last season. He wasn’t football smart just yet — a Harvard education doesn’t always guarantee someone can understand an NFL playbook.
The same goes for Brooks.
He was an All-American on the best defense and best team in the country in the Florida State Seminoles last season. He was a stalwart on the back end of their defense. He could hit, break up passes and quarterback the defensive unit and set up coverages. None of that matters in the NFL.
If he doesn’t grasp the playbook, he won’t have the right alignment or assignment. That will get anyone beat in the NFL as a split second can make that much of a difference.
The good thing about the NFL is it provides on-the-job training all the time. Coaches give players opportunities to see them showcase their skills and record it on film to evaluate and grade out just how well the respective players performed.
The problem? Baltimore is about to face an experienced quarterback in Andy Dalton and arguably one of the to two or three receivers in the league in A.J. Green.
One simple mistake in the secondary and Baltimore could be 0-1 just like that. In fact, it almost happened last season when the Bengals executed a Hail Mary in Baltimore due to an errant tip by Ihedigbo that was subsequently caught by Green.
If the Ravens are going to succeed defensively this season, they will need their top three corners healthy. But if one goes down, especially Smith or Webb, expectations for the potential greatness of this Baltimore defense will dwindle real fast.
