After the Ravens' 25-20 come-from-behind victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 18, inside linebacker C.J. Mosley spoke glowingly about defensive coordinator Dean Pees' calm in settling down the defense after it had surrendered 20 points in the first quarter.
On Thursday, the media caught a glimpse of Pees' fiery side.
After practice, Pees was asked during his weekly news conference about the defense's lack of success in the red zone. Opponents have scored seven touchdowns in eight trips inside the Ravens' 20-yard line, and that 87.5 percent success rate is the highest in the NFL.
At first, Pees' answer was relative short.
"Sure, it's frustrating," he said. "I almost don't know how to answer that question. What do you think? We've been a good red zone defense. They hit passes on us. I don't know how to answer that question other than that's disappointing."
Pees, however, bristled when he was asked if there was a common theme in the defensive problems in the red zone.
"Here's what stands out: would you rather we be in the red zone more and have a good percentage or would you rather be No. 7 in the league in scoring?" he asked. "Which would you rather have?"
After a reporter chose the latter option, Pees continued.
"I'd think so," he said. "I'm disappointed that we haven't kept them out of the red zone, too, but it just bothers me a little bit that that's what we harp on when our guys have busted their butts to be No. 1 in the league in defense, pretty much in every category in the top 10 – sometimes the top 5. And we have to focus on the one thing we've given up, but yet we're the second-fewest times in the red zone of all the teams in the league.
"That's not going to be my focus. We're going to keep playing the red zone that we play and play it like we play it. We're going to try to play it better. We've gotten caught in some pressure situations. Most of the time, just like the other day, we had them at third-down-and-8, and we really weren't in a pressure, and we busted it. It was our mistake – that touchdown pass on the post. That should have been an interception based on the coverage we played. We had a guy that made an uncharacteristic mistake, and we just have to improve on that. I'm more disappointed that we gave up the two-minute drive than I am the other stuff."