Wilson: Ravens credit Mattison's game plan

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Immediately after the Baltimore Ravens’ 30-7 victory over the Denver Broncos, a consistent theme was sounded in the locker room.

Several players, including middle linebacker Ray Lewis, emphasized that defensive coordinator Greg Mattison, who had drawn criticism during the Ravens’ three-game losing streak, deserved a lot of credit for the dramatic turnaround.

The Ravens held Denver to a season-low 200 yards of total offense, the Broncos’ lowest total in six years.

“I think for all the heat that coach Mattison has been getting, he put together a pretty good package,” outside linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “You’ve got to give credit where credit is due. I think coach Mattison did a good job of putting all of us in the right places and playing a good chess match.”

From the first defensive snap, the Ravens signaled that they were operating under an aggressive approach as outside linebacker Jarret Johnson crashed into quarterback Kyle Orton for a blindside sack.

"We made vast improvements," Johnson said. "We were much more multiple."

The Ravens’ relatively vanilla schemes compared to the “organized chaos” that defined former defensive boss Rex Ryan’s unpredictable game plans suddenly had some flavor.

Johnson said that the Ravens  blitzed more often than they had in the recent past.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh emphasized Monday that there weren’t any new elements to the defensive alignment. Primarily, the execution was what differed from the previous three games.

“If we can find a way in certain situations to put together a better scheme to create an advantage for our guys, we wanted to do that,” Harbaugh said. “Now, there were no new calls. There were no new inventions. It was all part of the Ravens’ package that Greg and his staff put together.

“I thought they did a really good job of putting together a plan for Denver, understanding what Denver’s trying to accomplish and going after it. The guys executed it well, too. So, was it a better plan? Maybe. Was it executed better? Sure. All those things go together and you get a better performance.”

The Ravens kept Orton under constant siege and nearly intercepted him twice, but Johnson and Suggs both dropped gifts that hit them in the hands.

Johnson’s big hit definitely sent a message that the Ravens weren’t going to be pushed around.

“It’s always good to hit the quarterback, so it can’t be overblown,” Harbaugh said. “It’s good to hit the quarterback on the first play when they drop back to pass. It’s going to be something that’s going to set a tone for the rest of the game.

“The way things are set up right now and how difficult it is to cover in the back end, you have got to get to the quarterback. If you don’t get to the quarterback, it’s going to be impossible to defend against the pass the way it’s being called and the way it’s set up. That’s going to be critical for us to sustain pass defense for the rest of the year.”

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