OCTOBER 10: When speaking to the media ahead of the Ravens’ Week 6 game, Orr was asked about his job security. To little surprise, he indicated (via ESPN’s Jamison Hensley) he is not concerned about a firing at this point. It will be interesting to see if things change on this front after Sunday’s contest which will see Orr’s unit take on the NFL passing (Matthew Stafford) and receiving (Puka Nacua) leaders.
OCTOBER 5: Things have gone from bad to worse in Baltimore. An extremely tough opening slate that included trips to Buffalo and Kansas City in Weeks 1 and 4, not to mention a home matchup with the Lions in Week 3, resulted in a less than ideal 1-3 start. Today’s blowout loss to the Texans has put Baltimore in rare territory as they’ve given up 40 points per game against teams not from Cleveland. Still, defensive coordinator Zach Orr‘s job appears safe for now. 
In Week 1, the Ravens looked to be on their way towards a big win over the Bills, going up 40-25 with just under 12 minutes remaining. The Bills rattled off three straight scoring drives to win the game 41-40 and leave the Ravens sitting with a very familiar feeling. Over the last few years, Baltimore has seen several double-digit late-game leads disappear, but these games have usually been outliers.
Despite Mike Macdonald‘s defenses also being susceptible to the occasional late-game collapse, his two years coordinating for the Ravens saw the team give up the third-fewest points in 2022 and the fewest points in 2023. When Orr took over, there appeared to be a bit of a learning curve. Through the first 10 weeks of the season, Baltimore’s defense was 25th in scoring defense, 27th in total defense, and 32nd in pass defense. Orr made adjustments, players stepped up, and over the last six weeks of the season, the Ravens ranked 1st in all three categories to end up with the ninth-best scoring defense and 10th-best total defense in the NFL.
That made the late-game collapse in Buffalo all the more shocking. It seemed Orr had figured things out, but even though there were few personnel changes, it appeared the defense was back to its woeful ways of starting the season slow. A strong Week 2 performance from the defense gave a bit of hope for a quicker rebound than the prior year, but a 38-point outing for Detroit in the Ravens’ house brought some concern back into the picture.
A second factor began to emerge, though. Injuries began to stack up. Highly paid defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike and pass rusher Kyle Van Noy were the first absences that hurt the team’s ability to get to the quarterback. While Van Noy made his return today, Madubuike will miss the rest of the season, and he was joined on injured reserve by his fellow defensive tackle Broderick Washington. Madubuike’s fellow starter on the line, Travis Jones, would avoid IR but was also ruled out in Week 4, leaving a thin defensive front against Patrick Mahomes, a quarterback who thrives on extending the play.
The game against the Chiefs saw several additional injuries take out one starter after another. Already down three starters to open the game, at some point linebacker Roquan Smith and cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins all left the game. Injuries to left tackle Ronnie Stanley and star quarterback Lamar Jackson also affected the offense’s ability to give the defense a rest with long drives, leaving a depleted, exhausted unit on the field in Kansas City.
In today’s matchup against the Texans, five starters (Madubuike, Smith, Humphrey, cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, and star safety Kyle Hamilton) were not available to play. Jackson was held out, as well, resulting in the team’s worst loss since an injury-riddled 2021 campaign.
The 2024 Panthers set a record by allowing the most points in NFL history (534); the Ravens are on pace to allow 602. The 1966 Giants hold the all-time record for most points allowed per game, giving up 501 points in a 14-game season for a 35.79 average; Baltimore is currently allowing 35.4.
The issue could absolutely be on Orr’s shoulders. The early issues against Buffalo and Detroit can hardly be attributed to injuries, but the litany of injuries in the past two weeks have made it hard to blame the scheme and play-calling. Regardless, when asked, head coach John Harbaugh told the media he “does not think firing Zach Orr is the answer,” per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic.
Perhaps some of the short-term injuries quickly subside, and perhaps Orr engineers another midseason turnaround as impressive as the one last year. Whatever the expectation, Harbaugh has put his faith in Orr. If he’s not careful and the Ravens continue to flounder as the season goes on, he may just tie his fate to Orr’s, as well.
I suspect even the team mascot in Baltimore is getting nervous about his job security.
…and health…
Poe for DC!! He couldn’t possibly do much worse than Orr.
As a Browns fan I’m LOVING THIS! Poetic justice in their 30th year anniversary since stealing the Browns from Cleveland and we have matching records 🤣
You have 2 SB rings? I don’t remember that.
The Browns have 4 championships prior to the Super Bowl era if we’re simply counting rings….1950, 1954, 1955 and 1964…..prior to that they won the AAFC championships from 1946 to 1949….if we’re counting….
That’s about the only thing Browns’ fans have to be happy about. At least we got two rings.
Also, do any of you clowns in Cleveland realize Baltimore wouldn’t have ‘stolen’ your team if our team wasn’t ‘stolen’ first. At least you got to keep your shi**y colors hahaha
Two super bowl rings mean nothing right now when your team is losing
I think most teams fans would be pretty miserable being 1-4. Also the Ravens only victory was against the Browns. Nothing for you to be happy about
Might want to work on offensive line or figure why Henry suddenly sucks.
Most of their salary cap wasn’t playing this week. I know it was grim, but he didn’t have a lot of key guys.
Guys who quit in the Chiefs game. I think if the team was 3-1 most would have played
The Steelers brilliantly strategy of having a bye this week is paying huge dividends.
If Harbaugh doesn’t get rid of Orr. He won’t have to worry about his own job either.
So to sum up, You lose 9 starters to injury and your plan is fire the coach? Why not do something more relevant and fire the team Dr. and Trainers? Seems logical anyway.
Team was 1-3 with their starters. Most of whom had played terribly
Problem started way before the disaster start to this season. Players and Harbaugh are circling the wagons as they should, but the unit has regressed since he took over. They’ve had a lot of injuries in the past and never looked like this. Only the Cowboys are worse on defense. Think about all the bad teams in the league, and the Ravens, who pride themselves on their defensive culture, are nearly worst in the league.
Quoth the Ravens, Never Orr.
Could it lead to the Fall of the House of Harbaugh? Probably not…
Bisciotti admitted nearly firing him in 2019, so it might. Might be the off-ramp to see if another coach can take them the rest of the way before Jackson is out of his prime.
The Ravens believe they have all this talent and they keep falling short. This season was to be THE year. I’ve only seen a defense this bad in the Vinny Testeverde years. Barring some crazy miracle, it doesn’t look like this team will make the playoffs. Harbaugh’s teams never look prepared, they look incapable of in game adjustments, and they still suffer from terrible clock management problems. At some point you have to look at the talent and see you aren’t getting what you think you should out of that talent and start to question why. Is it the players, or the coach?
They’ve had over a year to see what Orr can do, and despite all the money being thrown at the defense (wisely or otherwise, I don’t understand the big money given to a back up DT like Washington), this unit has grossly underachieved. Sure there are injuries, but every team goes through those.
The Ravens just look like a team that has lost its rudder. They have no defensive identity anymore, and no identity on offense. It used to be when you played the Ravens, you knew running would be tough, and your QB was in trouble. The offense used to be smash mouth. Not the defense can’t stop anything at all, and the offense can’t make up its mind whether it wants to be a power run team, or just a really cute passing team with lots of motion and trickery in the run game that isn’t working.
Henry is a sledgehammer. Run him up the gut. Things might be helped once Ricard is back at FB, but I think they have more than capable blockers. Run, run, and run some more. Set up some play action for Lamar (when he comes back) and if it isn’t there within his first couple of reads, take off. If if the ground game isn’t working well, run anyway. Beat that other team up and tire them out.
This team is trying to be too cute and play 4D chess when it can’t even play checkers.
Might not be the answer but it’s a start.
Harbaugh better make it the answer, or else firing him might be the answer at the and of the season.
Ironic that a guy with the last name ‘Orr’ can’t run a defense…..
Forgot to mention that the improvement on the defense last season with Orr only came when Dean Peas was brought on to be an assistant to Orr.
Orr … its all simply because they cant rush the passer, though injuries havent helped. Their depth should be better than they have shown.