The Baltimore Ravens have been plagued by missed tackles all year long on the defensive side of the ball. Multiple players have struggled to bring ball carriers to the ground consistently, and it’s shown both in the on-field play of the defense as well as in multiple different statistics.
One of the players who hasn’t tackled particularly well is inside linebacker Patrick Queen. When the second-year player spoke to the media on Tuesday, he was asked what the issues have been with his tackling. Queen went into some detail, pinpointing areas where he needed to improve.
“Thinking – thinking too much, overthinking. It’s really simple when you think about it. It’s just technique – just go in there, break down, tackle, move your feet, wrap up. There are a lot of times that I just threw my shoulder in there. I wish I could take those plays back and just re-do them, re-live them, and just execute on that part. It would’ve saved us a lot of yards, a lot of points. But the only thing I can do now is just improve on that, get better at that, and just try to help my team win more games.”
To be fair to the young linebacker, it’s not just him who has been missing tackles on the Baltimore defense. However, Queen understands that he needs to be better at tackling his opponents and getting them down on the ground. He has played much better after the team inserted veteran inside linebacker Josh Bynes into the starting lineup, as the move has allowed him to play with more confidence at the WILL position.
Queen is still a very young player with a lot of room to grow. As he continues to learn and play through his mistakes he should begin to improve at a rapid rate and hopefully put his tackling issues in the rearview mirror.