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Dean Pees comments may cause a problem for Ravens

The Ravens have a goal of winning out and going 10-6. It might be hard to do that if Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees continues to point fingers publicly. Ravens Head coach John Harbaugh doesn't point fingers. Pees should get the memo.

By Wola Odeniran (WolaWriteMore Twitter)
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

I don't know what Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees is doing. It seems like a broken record by now but Pees seems to have no problem shifting blame to everyone without directly saying it. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, if he hasn't already, needs to pull Pees aside and tell him to cut it out.

Let's start from the beginning.

A couple of articles ago, I wrote about how Pees called out called out cornerback Jimmy Smith saying that he's not being productive. I got some flack for calling Pees out myself, but oh well. I don't care. Pees shouldn't go without blame.

But here is Smith, not wanting to address Pees comments earlier this week via Baltimore Sun:

"Honestly, I don't even want to ... I don't know," he said. "I've just got to keep getting better, keep playing my game...You guys write one thing — I feel totally different than how you guys feel,"  Smith continued. "So, I'm not going to get into that, but I've got to keep playing ball."

With the way things have gone defensively, it easy to tell that Smith is frustrated with those comments and as Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun alluded to, Smith is also frustrated with the media. That's understandable.

Smith is still recovering from his Lisfranc foot injury that ended his season last year. He doesn't have the kind of speed he used to have at the moment compared to last year. He'll get it back in time and the Ravens have confidence that he will as they gave him a shiny new contract this past offseason. When healthy, I believe that Smith is one of the best corners in the game. He's being a team player and playing hard. I think Smith deserves a pass for that.

But back to Pees. If you thought he was done throwing players under the bus, just read what he said earlier this week on the topic of the lack of forced turnovers by the Ravens defense via ESPN.com:

"I'm disappointed but I'm not surprised because we haven't played aggressive enough at times to get the ball turned over...You get turnovers when you play really aggressive and not sometimes on your heels. We haven't created them. It's our fault."

So what is Pees trying to say?

  • Is Pees saying that he wants players to be aggressive on defense and they are not responding to him? Because if he is, he just admitted that doesn't have control over these players.
  • Or is Pees saying that his play calling is too conservative which in turn isn't allowing him to be aggressive?
Pees can't mean both things equally because he is not on the field. He adds at the end, "It's out fault" to save himself a bit but those quotes really sound like he is really putting more blame on the players. If Pees wants to say those things behind closed doors that's fine. Pees even yelled at players on defense to play better during the win in week 8 against the San Diego Chargers. There's nothing wrong with that. I 100 percent support that.

But during these media sessions, it really doesn't take a genius to read between the lines these days to understand what he is interpreting. If Pees had put the blame equally on everyone's shoulders, I'd be much happier and so would his players.

This defense isn't near the bottom of the league in almost every category only because of the lack of execution on the field. Something is lacking game plan wise from the defensive coaching staff as well. You win as a team and you lose as a team. I want the Ravens to do well. I would love nothing more than for this team to prove me wrong. But when you constantly have these small digs in the media, sooner or later there is going to be a problem in the locker room. This is a Ravens team that sees themselves winning out going from 2-6, to 10-6. These comments can't be happening if that is the goal. No more finger pointing. Hopefully Harbaugh can fix that.

Quite frankly, nobody on this team needs to tell anyone on the outside how disappointing this defense has been. Everyone knows. If the Ravens play to their talent level on defense, they will do well to finish the season. They still have enough talent despite the injuries.



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