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Ravens defense lacks killer instinct

After the Baltimore Ravens lost to the Bengals in Week 1, linebacker Ray Lewis told ESPN's Sal Paolantonio: "I can't have that. I can't have six turnovers. Not with this defense. I can't go back to that."

Since then, the Ravens have won two in a row. But in both cases, the defense that's led by the impatient Lewis has gone soft down the stretch.

Last week, the Ravens led the Jets by 17 after the first play of the fourth quarter. A Mike Nugent field goal and Chris Baker touchdown reception cut the lead to seven. If not for a bad case of butterfingers from Jets receiver Justin McCareins, the game would have been tied with roughly a minute to go.

This week, the Ravens built the exact same 20-3 lead over the Cardinals. After Arizona picked up a field goal to narrow the gap, another Matt Stover field goal pushed the score to 23-6.

And then, in the fourth quarter, the Ravens allowed 17 straight points to the Cards.

The defensive collapse plunged Baltimore into a late-game tie, but the Ravens' oft-maligned offense put the team in position to win, and Stover delivered from 46 yards out to push Baltimore to 2-1.

But the chewed fingernails of the past two weekends would have been unnecessary if the defense had merely done its job. So before Ray Lewis -- or any other member of the team -- considers the possibility of griping to the media about the inability of the offense to produce points, they should devote their efforts to figuring out how to stay focused once a game is supposedly in the bag.

Seems like the defense isn't pulling up their end of the deal in Baltimore. What happened? This team was being hyped as a possible Super Bowl contender and right now they are playing like a team that will have to claw it's way into earning a #6 seed in the AFC.