The Defense
When you think about the Baltimore Ravens, you think about defense. Their defense has always been their strong suit and this helped them to their Super Bowl XXXV victory almost a decade ago. They have been led by future Hall-of-Fame MLB Ray Lewis for the last 15 years. Over the past few seasons the Ravens have been on point with their draft picks and they are hoping the 2010 draft would be no different.
After deciding to trade out of the first round as they saw some players they targeted already off the board, they arrived at the #43 pick that they had received in their trade of their first rounder. They were stunned to see Texas stud OLB/DE Sergio Kindle still available.
For his 2009 season at Texas, Kindle was moved to the defensive end position, replacing Brian Orakpo who was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the 2009 NFL Draft. He was named to the watch lists for the Nagurski Trophy, Bednarik Award and Hendricks Award. Heading into the National Championship Game, Kindle has 47 tackles, 3 sacks, 17 TFLs, and 31 QB Hurries. In the 2010 BCS National Championship Game versus Alabama, Kindle recorded 6 solo tackles and 2.5 sacks.
Although deemed a first-round talent by most analysts, many teams were scared off by Kindle's often-injured knee and his off-the-field incidents, but the Ravens felt they could not pass up a talent like this at this point in the draft. In a press conference shortly after the draft, Kindle acknowledged that he was targeting the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award in 2010. However, after the Ravens' minicamp, Kindle acknowledged: "When I said that, it was just an exciting moment for me, getting drafted. My head was in the clouds."
The Ravens didn't have to wait long for their next pick. At the #57 pick the Ravens decided they would need to find a future replacement for the big man in the middle, Kelly Gregg. And boy did they pick a big, big man in Alabama DT Terrence Cody.
In his two seasons at Alabama, Cody helped the Crimson Tide to lead the Southeastern Conference in rushing defense, allowing opponents a rushing average of only 78.8 and 78.1 yards per game in 2008 and 2009, respectively. No individual player reached the 100-yard rushing mark against the Crimson Tide in those two seasons. Cody's presence improved Alabama's pass rush despite his not being an effective pass rusher himself. Wrote Michael Casagrande: "The power that comes with his size typically forces opposing lines to focus two players on blocking him, thus creating favorable rushing lanes for unblocked linebackers."
Prior to the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, Cody drew awestruck praise from Texas players and coaches. "They call him Mount Cody. Mount Cody is for a reason. He plays like he’s 450 pounds. He can move like he’s Sergio Kindle," said Longhorns guard Charlie Tanner. Alabama's defense held Texas to 81 yards rushing—more than 70 yards below their season average—on 28 attempts, and helped the Crimson Tide to their first national title since 1992.
Along with Crimson Tide teammates Javier Arenas, Mike Johnson, Leigh Tiffin, and Colin Peek, Cody participated in the 2010 Senior Bowl on January 30, 2010. In the Senior Bowl weigh-in at the Mobile Convention Center, Cody tipped the scales at 370 pounds, which hurt his draft status according to NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock allowing him to fall right into the Ravens lap late in the second round.
In addition to the draft, the Ravens went ahead and signed solid vets in FS Ken Hamlin and CB Walt Harris to help with some of the injuries in the secondary.
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Not satisfied with their off-season moves, the Ravens looked to their new GM Riddick to lead them in the right direction. Riddick realized that in ordered to look toward the future, the Ravens needed to send some of their older vets packing in exchange for some young blood. Only about a week or two after his arrival, former Ravens LE Trevor Pryce, LE Cory Redding, DT Kelly Gregg, DT Terrence Cody, OLB Jarrett Johnson, OLB Paul Kruger, OLB Antwan Barnes, MLB Danell Ellerbe, MLB Tavares Gooden, CB Dominique Foxworth, CB Ladarius Webb, CB Fabian Washington, FS Tom Zbikowski, SS Dawan Landry, and even beloved FS Ed Reed.
Now this may look like they they threw in the towel, trading away the entire defense, but that is not the case. They aimed young, really young.
Arguably the biggest trade acquisition was picking up the #2 overall pick in the 2010 draft Nebraska DT Ndamakong Suh.
As a junior in 2008, Suh recorded a team-high 76 tackles, 7½ sacks, 19 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions (both returned for touchdowns) and a touchdown reception while playing fullback. He became the first Nebraska defensive lineman to lead the team in tackles since 1973. Suh earned First-team All-Big 12 honors in 2008, the first Nebraska interior defensive lineman to earn those honors since Steve Warren in 1999.
In 2009 Suh registered 82 tackles and 12 quarterback sacks and had 26 quarterback hurries, 23 tackles for loss, 10 pass breakups, three blocked kicks, and one interception. Suh had 12 tackles (seven for losses, a school single-game record) and 4½ sacks in a 13-12 loss to the Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 Championship Game, for which he received game MVP honors. He helped Huskers defense rank first nationally in scoring defense (10.4 ppg), tied for second in total sacks (44), first in pass efficiency defense (87.3), seventh in total defense (272.0 ypg), ninth in rushing defense (93.1 ypg) and 18th in passing defense (178.9 ypg). He also played all four quarters versus Arizona in the 2009 Holiday Bowl, helping Nebraska record the first shutout in in the Holiday Bowl's 32-year history, as well as the first shutout in school bowl history. He was a consensus First-team All-American and earned consensus First-team All-Big 12 honors and was the Associated Press National Player of the Year, Big-12 Defensive Player of the Year, the Defensive Lineman of the Year, and a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Suh was widely considered to be one of the best prospects available in the draft, ESPN.com's draft analyst Mel Kiper, Jr. describes Suh as "maybe the most dominating defensive tackle I've seen in 32 years" and projected him to go #1 overall to the St. Louis Rams for a short time before it became evident the Rams would select Sam Bradford. He then (correctly) projected Ndamukong to be drafted by the Detroit Lions. Suh is seen as an ideal fit at either defensive tackle in a 4-3 defense or as a defensive end in a 3-4 NFL defense.
To be continued...
Subject: Baltimore Ravens 
Mon Jul 26, 2010 10:44 pm
