Baltimore’s improved defense:

The Ravens have won 12 consecutive games this season and while much of the praise for that has gone to Jackson and Baltimore’s offense, don’t think the defense is a liability. In fact, in several of those wins, it was the Ravens’ defense that really got the job done and secured victory.

At the beginning of the season, Baltimore’s defense had issues all over the place. They weren’t able to consistently get to the quarterback, they had coverage lapses and their linebacker play was awful. But general manager Eric DeCosta got to work to begin patching up some of those holes.

DeCosta ultimately added several key contributors like L.J. Fort, Josh Bynes, Jihad Ward, Domata Peko and Marcus Peters to solidify the defensive roster after Week 4’s loss to the Cleveland Browns. Combined with defensive coordinator Don Martindale working his magic, the Ravens went from one of the worst units in the league to No. 3 in points allowed and fourth in yards allowed.

As I expected from the beginning of the season, Baltimore’s defense continued to gel throughout the year. With so much turnover from last season, it was going to take some time for all the new starters to get used to the scheme and each other before we saw what the defense really was. And true to expectations, they’ve done exactly that, improving each and every week. Since Week 5, they’ve notched 21 takeaways, getting at least one in every single game.

Now with the playoffs coming up, the Ravens’ defense is in a sweet spot. They still have some issues that can be exploited but they adjust better on the fly and put themselves in spots to create big plays.