Whats up with the D-Line?

I've been pretty impressed with Bowen, and think he's the best of our DL FA signings. Bowen can blow up o lineman and we've seen him bat a ball or two out of the sky.

I understand Cofield is a space eater but he's definitely not done anything special so far. No pressure. No tackles. To be honest I didn't know anything about him when we picked him up and he's still Turd Ferguson as far as I can tell i.e. just another body.

Our DLine isn't as good as our DL last year, having said that, we are getting young and putting our talented players out there (Jarvis Jenkins, Chris Baker) to see what they've got. And so far Haslett has been saying that Jarvis has been looking real good. And Chris Baker if you watch him has been pushing the pocket everytime he gets in. He looks better than Neild did in his limited minutes last year.

Not sure how accurate they are. I remember Bowen having 2-3 pass deflections this year.

Not sure how accurate they are. I remember Bowen having 2-3 pass deflections this year.

Same here. But regarding sacks, tackles, strips it's been pretty quiet.

I like how they play the run, and Golhston made a heck of a play on a screen the other day saving a long gainer.

The Ravens back up D-line (2 DEs and 1 NT) has 11 tackles this season. But they also have great DBs.

The Ravens back up D-line (2 DEs and 1 NT) has 11 tackles this season. But they also have great DBs.

...and Ed Reed. The best safety in football and maybe the best to ever play IMO.

To be clear, though, the D-line is obviously designed to free up the LBs to make tackles, and they've done that. But if you look at teams with really strong 3-4 defenses, their front three do have tackles, sacks, and forced fumbles, and our guys aren't generating that. Until we do, I think opposing QBs are going to have enough time to pick our struggling secondary apart. They've been good at clogging lanes so that RBs don't have room (and our LBs have been closing fast and tackling well), and I agree that Bowen has looked pretty strong in getting his hands up on passes and otherwise forcing QBs to worry about him, but losing Carriker and Nield has been significant. I would also add that losing Orakpo has hurt the front 3 a lot -- teams can focus only on Kerrigan as they think that no other D-lineman can get to the QB. With Orakpo and Kerrigan, the D-linemen won't get as much O-line attention, and can get more pressure, etc.

Bottom line: with the injuries we have had, we really need to see if we can get better production out of Jenkins, Baker, and Cofield if our D is going to improve this year.

One thing the line has been doing on a consistent basis, is deflecting many passes, especially Bowen.

One thing the line has been doing on a consistent basis, is deflecting many passes, especially Bowen.

That's a good deal cause the target it's headed to is more than likely wide ass open.