o         Haloti Ngata advanced his game to the Pro Bowl level and dispelled doubts that he cannot be a workhorse DT at the NFL level.  Ngata played 76% of the team’s defensive snaps and was the man most responsible for the Ravens’ league leading YPC allowed of 2.8 (includes kneels).  As part of another project I’m going to go back and record the 2000 season similarly.  I’d be interested to see if either Siragusa or Adams turned in numbers to compete with Haloti’s.  I have watched those 2000 games many times, and from where I sit Adams’ first step was the most disruptive force on that defense, but the topic is worthy of a thorough objective analysis.

 

o         Each of Martin and Pittman showed athletic flashes at CB in the last 2 weeks.  If you embrace the theory that the most recent evidence is the most pertinent, then there is hope that 1 or both of these guys could be a serviceable #2 corner and not just another nickel prospect.

 

o         Antwan Barnes seems to have the motor to rush the passer.  He might have been more effective with Trevor Pryce on the other side.

 

o         Edgar Jones saw the field for just 30 plays (2.5 YPPA), but subjectively, he looks like he can play.

o         After 15 promising snaps in 2006, Cody was hurt again and probably has no chance of becoming an impact player.

 

o         Haley was released after being in for just 2 defensive snaps vs. the Bengals (both TD’s.  He was also in for the 2-point conversion).

 

o         Burgess did not see a single defensive snap in his rookie season and also got hurt.  These last 2 weeks would have been a great time to have him healthy and starting in place of Ray.

 

o         Dawan Landry had a poor year in coverage.  He was exposed and picked on when singled up and was much more frequently late to arrive on deep outside balls.  After 5 picks in his rookie season he was shut out in 2007.  He’s a fine hitter and it looks to me like he’ll make his mark close to the line of scrimmage.

 

o         The pressure supplied by Barnes did not offset his other weaknesses.  I’m not writing him off, but both his personal productivity and YPC/YPP stats were lousy. He recorded just 4 defensive tackles (2 of them sacks) in 224 defensive snaps.  He’s going to need to learn how to play standing up and get more creative with pass rush moves.  These are certainly things Suggs has been able to master, but Terrell also was working from an outstanding rookie season in terms of productivity (12 sacks, 6 FF, 4 FR, 1 INT).  With Barnes on the field, the Ravens allowed 4.9 YPC and 7.5 YPP.  With Barnes on the sideline, those numbers drop to 2.8 YPC and 6.3 YPP.  There simply are no good excuses for differences that big covering more than 200 plays.

 

o         Ronnie Prude dropped out of sight by the end of the year after a highlight-filled rookie season.  Football Prospectus listed him among their best unknown defensive prospects at the beginning of the year.  Even though the team was riddled with injuries at corner, he was not among the first 3 options considered (Martin, Pittman, Gaston).

 

o         Gaston was a non-factor.  He’s a UDFA corner.  Could we really have expected more?

 

o         Jamaine Winborne saw his first 73 NFL snaps on defense.  He looked bad in coverage and the Ravens allowed 7.8 YPP with him in, 2nd worst on the team to Pittman.  Jamaine is in his 3rd year (2005 Taxi, 2006 1 game, 2007 active for all 16), but he’s actually 2 months older than Gerome Sapp, who just finished his 5th NFL season.