There is no contesting that the Baltimore Ravens are the hottest team in the league right now. Quarterback Lamar Jackson continues to get better and stack his MVP resume, while the defense has suddenly flipped from being a liability into one of the strongest units in the league over the past few weeks. On both sides of the ball, Baltimore is unquestionably dominant right now.

Top 5 offenses by DVOA since Week 7:

BAL

DAL

GB

KC

NO Top 5 defenses by DVOA since Week 7:

BAL

NE

PIT

SF

NO No team is hotter than #RavensFlock. — Aaron Schatz 🏈 (@FO_ASchatz) November 18, 2019

That being said, if there were any team close to matching Baltimore's well-rounded success, it would be the New Orleans Saints. Their loss to the Atlanta Falcons a couple weeks ago was a befuddling game all around, but they have been a strong team otherwise. Most notably, the return of quarterback Drew Brees has boosted the offense from the already stable position in which backup Teddy Bridgewater had them. The Brees boost was expected, though, and sort of baked into the subjective projection of the Saints moving forward. What wasn't quite as expected was for the Saints' defense to turn into a shutdown unit as soon as the calendar flipped past September.

New Orleans' success in the secondary, in particular, is reminiscent of their 2017 defensive rise. During that season, the Saints pass defense got progressively better as then-rookie cornerback Marshon Lattimore settled into his own. He looked like a star from the jump and only proved himself more and more as the season rolled along, and his ability to play lockdown man coverage opened up the Saints defense to get away with a number of tactics they wouldn't have been able to otherwise.

Fast-forward to 2019 and the Saints defense is seeing another boost through a young defensive back, this time out of the slot. Fourth-round rookie Chauncey Gardner-Johnson has been one of the best values of the 2019 draft thus far. The safety/nickel hybrid out of Florida has arguably been the best defensive back of the class to this point in the season and doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.

Like all good slot defenders, Gardner-Johnson is crafty and quick in tight spaces. His ability to redirect and close on a new area makes it tough to slip by him. He might not be the strongest player on the field in press coverage or at the top of route breaks, but he understands how to leverage his own body against his opponent's.

Gardner-Johnson (22) is aligned just outside the two-tight end set on the (offensive) right side of the formation. The tight end stems his route by pushing to the outside and attacking Gardner-Johnson's midline. As such, Gardner-Johnson is forced to extend wide with the stem so as to maintain the outside alignment that he wants. Once the tight end gets up to Gardner-Johnson and "steps on his toes," Gardner-Johnson snaps off the route inside and looks for the ball. Gardner-Johnson reads and reacts to the break perfectly. Rather than trail behind and over the top for the sure tackle for a short gain, Gardner-Johnson takes the risk of playing under the route to dive for a pass breakup. His short-area quickness shines through and he is able to find the ball with an outstretched arm before it arrives in the tight end's mitts.

The rookie's ability to read and react expands beyond just routes playing out in front of him, too. Whether it's excellent coaching, natural instincts, or some dangerous mix of both, Gardner-Johnson shows a knack for being able to play a trail position and read where a receiver's route is going to break. It seldom feels like Gardner-Johnson is caught off guard by something.

Gardner-Johnson is in the slot toward the bottom of the screen. Atlanta's slot receiver (Russell Gage, 83) gives the rookie corner a bit of a shake with his release and earns an unimpeded stem as a result. Gardner-Johnson is forced to play behind the receiver and with inside leverage because the receiver bent his stem slightly toward the outside. However, Gardner-Johnson knows he has inside help over the top with the split-field safety, so he has no obligation to favor defending against any inside route. He has free reign to play any outside break aggressively and try to undercut it. As Gage breaks off toward the sideline at about 10 yards, Gardner-Johnson capitalizes on the freedom to make a play and slides under him. Gage actually does a good job of working back to the ball, but Gardner-Johnson was in position to knock Gage out of bounds as he tried to bring the pass in because he closed on the catch point so well. This could have easily been a catch had Gardner-Johnson not forced the receiver to come back for the ball and leap into the air for it.

Better yet, New Orleans' young nickel corner shows the same understanding in adjusting to routes down the field. Gardner-Johnson has a good sense for staying within arm's length of the receiver, feeling out how to match the receiver's pace, and turning to find the ball in the air.

Here is Gardner-Johnson playing with an outside shade over the No. 2 receiver, in the middle of Arizona's trips set at the bottom of the screen. Given that he is playing off-coverage, Gardner-Johnson has to sit on the receiver's stem and wait for him to declare exactly where he's going. Arizona's receiver drives up as close to Gardner-Johnson as possible before slicing to the outside for a slot fade. Gardner-Johnson does well to flip his hips around and match the receiver's pace while maintaining focus on the receiver's body language to get a beat on when (or if) the ball is coming his way. In part because quarterback Kyler Murray is forced out of the pocket, the pass ends up a bit of a duck and forces the receiver to slow down to stay under it. Gardner-Johnson does well to identify the situation based on the receiver's reaction, work to a commanding inside position, and jump to beat the receiver to the ball for an incomplete pass. A flag gets thrown out at the end of the clip, but there was ultimately no foul on the play.

For as incredible as Gardner-Johnson has been for a first-year player, defense is a group effort, and the rookie slot defender has gotten quite a bit of help from his teammates. Stud No. 1 cornerback Marshon Lattimore is back to peak form after a shaky start to the year. On the other end, Eli Apple has been a solid No. 2 and continues to look nothing like the struggling player he was in New York. Behind all of them roams maybe the rangiest free safety in all of football: Marcus Williams.

Williams' part in the Minnesota Miracle has tainted an otherwise excellent early career. The third-year safety has taken his game to new heights this season, matching his impressive sideline-to-sideline speed with the vision and trigger to be arguably the scariest centerfielder in the league. Of course, that title is only available in part because Earl Thomas does not quite seem 100% following last year's injury, but that should not take away from Williams' brilliance.

For Williams to be able to cover from the right hash all the way to the left sideline is absurd. Precious few safeties in the league have the ability to do this at all, much less with the consistency Williams does. In this clip, Williams remains on the right hash until Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan shifts his eyes from right to left, then Williams slowly creeps toward the middle of the field before triggering as soon as Ryan draws back to throw. This very well could have been an interception if Williams had been able to make the tough catch.

Whereas the previous clip showed Williams' ability to track and cover pre-throw, this clip is more about Williams' raw speed in the back end. Williams books it to this pass and takes an aggressive angle underneath the receiver to make the interception. Had Williams either miscalculated his speed or the flight of the ball, this pass goes right over his head for a probable touchdown. Instead, Williams gets it all just right and snags the ball out of the air with ease.

A number of other factors also go into New Orleans' defensive success this year beyond individual talent. Though tough to quantify, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has everyone playing with their heads on fire and rallying to the ball with urgency. They also rank second only to New England, allowing a broken tackle on just 7.7% of opponents' plays (subscription required). Maybe that is all a byproduct of sound defense instead of a driving factor for the defense's success, but either way, the effort and urgency with which ever player sprints to the ball and finishes plays stands out on film.

Allen has done a fantastic job disguising fronts, too. New Orleans currently leads the league in pressure rate, per Sports Info Solutions (subscription required), in part because of Allen's ability to hide and formulate blitzes effectively. While the raw talent of guys like Cameron Jordan, Trey Hendrickson, and Marcus Davenport goes a long way as well, few coordinators in the league have been as creative in opening up gaps and generating free blitzes as Allen.

The Saints' defense has the right blend of structure and individual prowess. Allen's coaching and schematics are helping his players as much as the individual dominance of Lattimore, Williams, Gardner-Johnson, etc., are helping their coach open up the playbook in a way not every defensive coordinator can.

New Orleans does not face a strong lineup of quarterbacks from here on out, either. Aside from a Thursday night game against Matt Ryan in a couple of weeks, no quarterback the Saints will see the rest of the year is any sort of world beater. New Orleans should be able to carry their defensive success into the postseason with a first-round bye. Their eventual battle against the likes of Dak Prescott, Russell Wilson, and Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs will be the real barometer for just how tight the Saints' pass defense is.