Following a humiliating loss against Houston in which the lowly Texans’ offense dropped 44 points in Baltimore, the Ravens defense as we know them was at rock bottom. A no-name wide receiver named Jaylin Noel not only scored a touchdown – he proceeded to do the Ray Lewis squirrel dance in the end zone where the dance was made famous.
At that point, I was witnessing the worst defense I’ve seen since the 1996 Ravens. But that initial defense at least put up an effort every week. In that particular Houston game 30 seasons later, it seemed like the entire unit had just about given up.