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Five weeks into the NFL season, no team allowed more points per game than the Baltimore Ravens. Only the Dallas Cowboys surrendered more yardage. The Ravens’ defense is a glaring issue, yet coach John Harbaugh said after a 44-10 blowout loss to the Houston Texans that he does not think making changes to the staff is the answer to the uncharacteristic struggles. That is good news for defensive coordinator Zach Orr and his job security, which came into question early in his second year as the leader of that side of the ball.
In Orr’s defense, injuries undoubtedly played a role in the Ravens’ stunningly poor start to the year. In addition to key offensive absences in Week 5, Baltimore was without cornerbacks Chidobe Awuzie and Marlon Humphrey, safety Kyle Hamilton and linebacker Roquan Smith against the Texans.
“You try to do the most productive things, and I do not think that that’s the answer,” Harbaugh said of making changes to the defensive staff. “We gotta go to work, is what we need to do. We need to stick together, is what we need to do. And we need to find ourselves. It has to do with coaches and players together.”
The Texans were the fourth opponent in five games to score at least 37 points on the Baltimore defense. It has been an inconceivably poor stretch of play from a typically formidable unit, and it resulted in a 1-4 start that could have the Ravens on track to miss the playoffs.
Harbaugh was not the only prominent figure in the Ravens’ locker room to push back on the idea of firing Orr amid the horrendous start. Hamilton earlier in the season pushed back against the segment of the fanbase calling for Orr’s job.
“I feel like sometimes Ravens fans can be a little spoiled, just the amount of success that this franchise has had,” Hamilton said. “We lose five games and the world’s about to end. I think on Zach, it’s unfair to put all the blame on him when there’s 11 guys out there on the field that are playing their hearts. He’s put us in the right positions. It’s just a matter of us doing the right stuff.”
Orr’s track record as a defensive coordinator is minuscule, but he does have enough success on his short résumé to suggest a turnaround could be in store once the Ravens get healthier. He took over last season after spending the previous two years as the team’s inside linebackers coach and fielded a top-10 defense in his debut campaign. The personnel on this year’s roster is nearly identical to the talent Orr had at his disposal in 2024.
