The Baltimore Ravens defense has been one of the best in the NFL and has been carrying their team all year, but the question is, can they keep it up?

Despite the fact that their offense has looked anemic over the past few weeks, the Baltimore Ravens are currently in first place in the AFC North, holding the tiebreaker over the Pittsburgh Steelers as of now.

Now, considering how bad the AFC North is right now, being in first place is sort of like being the tallest midget, but whatever gets the Ravens to the playoffs is good enough for me.

The thing that has propelled the Baltimore Ravens to first place in their division has been none other than their defense, it has been dominant all year.

When the defense plays well, the team plays well, as evidenced by the fact that the Ravens are 4-1 when they hold their opponents to 20 points or less, and 1-3 when they don’t.

This really isn’t necessarily a surprise for the Ravens, as a top-tier defense has been a tradition in Baltimore since the 2000 Super Bowl year, when the Ravens had a defense that one could argue (I would) is the greatest in the history of the NFL.

What’s really impressive, to me, is how the Baltimore Ravens defense has out-played itself. By that, I mean the team has dealt with some major injuries. You’ve got Terrell Suggs’ biceps injury from earlier this year, C.J. Mosley’s hamstring injury that cost him two games, and Elvis Dumervil has only played two games this year thanks to a foot injury.

Suggs, Mosley, and Dumervil are three major keys to the Ravens’ front-seven, but their replacements have stepped up in big ways. Za’Darius Smith has been more than capable replacing Dumervil on the edge, and Matthew Judon has been solid too. And cornerback Tavon Young has done well in place of a pretty pitiful showing so far from Shareece Wright.

I think the real shout out goes to the Ravens’ front seven, as they’ve turned the team into the best rush defense in football right now by just about every metric.

As of now, the Ravens are #1 in the league in fewest total rushing yards allowed (642), #1 in fewest rushing yards per attempt (3.3), and #1 in fewest rushing yards allowed per game (71.3).

And it’s not like they’ve been playing a bunch of bad teams. Four out of the eight teams they’ve faced this season have ranked in the top-half in the NFL in rushing.

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The Ravens secondary has been solid too. While not number one in the league, the Ravens pass defense is #4 in fewest total passing yards allowed (1,892), #8 in fewest passing yards per attempt (6.6), and tied #2 in total interceptions (11).

Eric Weddle and Jimmy Smith have both been playing excellently, Smith essentially shut down Antonio Brown for much of the Steelers game, and Lardarius Webb has been playing well too. They’ve come up with timely turnovers and limited quarterbacks to just an 84.6 passer rating, which is good for ninth in the league.

Now, next week is going to be the real test for the Ravens defense, as they go on the road to face the 8-1 Cowboys. Quarterback Dak Prescott is fourth in the league in passer rating (106.2) and running back Ezekiel Elliott in rushing with 1.005 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

The Ravens are going to need their defense to keep stepping it up, especially if their offense is going to continue to play as poorly as they have been. But if the team wants a realistic shot of going far in the playoffs, their offense is going to have to turn the ball over less, and the defense is going to have to remain dominant.