The Ravens' defensive players had heard the criticism.
A frustrated Terrell Suggs last week noted that in his 15-year career, the Ravens never ranked as low as 30th in the league against the rush, which they did entering their Week 7 game at the Minnesota Vikings (after which they fell to dead last).
Tackling and coverage had been suspect, and the Ravens lost in consecutive weeks -- to a rookie quarterback making his first road start in the Chicago Bears' Mitchell Trubisky, and then a journeyman backup in the Vikings' Case Keenum. This was not the vision the Ravens' front office or players had for this defense when it was built -- financially and rhetorically -- during the offseason.
