For Lardarius Webb, the Ravens' season-ending 24-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday almost felt like a new beginning. For fellow defensive back Jimmy Smith, it was a welcome end to a difficult season during which he only recently started to feel like himself.
In a losing effort, the Ravens pass defense, which statistically had been the league's top-performing unit in the second half after a dreadful first half of the season, held the Bengals to 147 passing yards and sacked A.J. McCarron three times. And they did it with longtime starting cornerback Webb playing almost exclusively at free safety and with Smith playing far better than he did when the two teams matched up in late September.