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."
John Harbaugh Not Pleased By Several Offensive Play Calls Against Chiefs
Harbaugh was not pleased by several offensive play calls on Sunday that proved costly for the Ravens after they started fast with a touchdown on their opening drive.
Their second possession ended when Lamar Jackson was intercepted by Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal, who made a leaping grab in front of Mark Andrews. Jackson was heavily pressured before making the throw by an inside blitz that the Ravens didn't pick up.
"It wasn't a good play call," Harbaugh said. "It wasn't a play where we put our guys in the right position in that situation. I'm not happy with it at all, none of us are.
"We had downfield routes with no checkdowns… That kills your drive. I don't like that play call at all, or the result of it."
On its next possession, Baltimore committed a pair of delay-of-game penalties in a three-play span, resulting in a punt.
"That was a bad series for us," Harbaugh said. "We've just got to look at it honestly as a coaching staff and just say, 'That was not good.'"
Later in the half, the Ravens failed to convert on fourth-and-1 when the Chiefs sent an all-out blitz, resulting in Jackson throwing the ball wildly out of bounds.
"You go for it and you don't have a good plan," Harbaugh said. "You just don't. We didn't do a good job at all. We all know it, we all agree with it. We came up short. We didn't put our players in the position we needed to put them in to execute and convert on third-and-short and fourth-and-short… That was bad ball, and it can be fixed, and we have to fix it moving forward."
Ravens Strayed From Their Plan to Run the Football
Baltimore rushed for 166 yards against the Chiefs, but a large chunk of that came on Justice Hill's 71-yard fourth-quarter touchdown scamper when the outcome was already decided.
The Ravens had just 17 rushing attempts while Kansas City had almost twice as many (32). Derrick Henry (eight carries, 42 yards) had his fewest rushing attempts since joining the Ravens and was held to 50 or fewer yards for the third straight game.
"We didn't stick to the plan that we had," Harbaugh said. "I'm not happy about it and neither is anybody, none of our coaches – I'm talking about our coaches right now. That was us. It was not a good job.
"We have to regain a rhythm. We need more plays on offense. We've been in the 50-play range. We need more consistency. Running the ball was a big part of our plan in that game and we didn't do it. Running the ball with Derrick, running the ball with Justice, that was good, too. Those are all things that need to come together in a way that's cohesive. We've scored some points, but this game, I think exposed us in terms of not doing a good job in some of those things."
