The Ravens defense must generate more interior pressure in 2018

The Ravens defense was a force to be reckoned with at times last season, leading the entire league in turnovers and forcing three shutouts. So what stopped Baltimore’s ball-hawking defense from being truly great in 2017? The blame could fall on a number of issues: poor play calling in the fourth quarter of big games, injuries to Jimmy Smith, Brandon Williams and Brent Urban, or even unbalanced field time due to poor support from the Ravens offense. However, one simple thing separates the 2017 unit from the great Ravens defenses of the past, and that is the interior pass rush.

Think back to the years of great players like Haloti Ngata, Tony Siragusa and Michael McCrary who were dominate from…