Mink: The Ravens defense surely did not have a good time in the film review session early this week. There are always going to be things to improve on after Week 1, win or lose, but there’s a heightened sense of urgency after surrendering 41 points.

The two areas that I’ll point to for improvement are the pass rush and coverage, which are married. Both had too many letdowns against the Bills.

Baltimore sacked Josh Allen just once, but that wasn’t the biggest problem. Keeping Allen in the pocket was a major part of the game plan and the Ravens did not accomplish that. Allen is an escape artist, but the Ravens also made it too easy at times by not staying in their rush lanes, which allowed Allen to step up and throw some darts on the move or scramble. Head Coach John Harbaugh said not keeping Allen in the pocket was probably “the No. 1 disappointment for me.”

In the secondary, the Ravens’ cornerbacks gave too much cushion at times and didn’t have proper leverage on some key plays. Some of this may have to do with trying to play conservatively with a big lead to protect against big plays over the top, but it ended up biting the Ravens as the Bills hit too many chunk plays underneath and caught fire in the fourth quarter.

The Ravens defense was solid at the start of Sunday night’s loss. Baltimore held Allen to 65 yards passing over his first four offensive drives. He finished with 394, however. Allen is the reigning MVP, and he made some incredible throws down the stretch, but Baltimore’s defense didn’t make it hard enough.

This Ravens defense is too talented to have many performances like that. We saw a major turnaround last year under Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr and I expect another (faster) rebound this season.