Baltimore Ravens Rookie CB Takes a Step Further

The Baltimore Ravens defense had its best performance of the season, defeating the Buffalo Bills 35-10.

At the heart of the one-sided victory was cornerback Nate Wiggins. The 2024 first-round pick had another strong performance against Buffalo, tallying a pair of interceptions and another pass defensed. Wiggins also saw a huge increase in playing time, as he was on the field for 86 percent of defensive snaps.

Ravens (2-2) head coach John Harbaugh credited Wiggins’ mentality and performance in the week leading up to the game as why his rookie cornerback has taken a big step in his development over the past two weeks.

“That’s growth – (Nate Wiggins) is just a growth guy with a growth mindset.” Harbaugh said Monday:. “We trust our players to learn and grow. (We) gave him an opportunity to go out there and do it again. He’s been practicing really well. He and I have had a lot of conversations; he and (assistant coach/passing game coordinator) Chris (Hewitt) have had a lot of conversations.” “He had the conversation; it’s just (a) natural part of football. He listens and (he) trained well last week and came out and played well.”

Wiggins also had two red-zone fumble-causing interceptions and a crucial forced fumble in the Ravens’ 28-25 win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3. Wiggins played 48 percent of the defense against Dallas.

The Ravens’ defense was exposed to the Bills’ offense and Josh Allen was under constant pressure, sacking him three times and recording eight quarterback hits. Allen completed 16 of 29 passes and threw for just 180 yards, and the entire Buffalo offense had just 236 total yards.

Harbaugh credited the secondary’s ability to play man coverage and Wiggins’ improvement in Week 3 as factors in their ability to slow down the Bills offense, which was averaging 37.3 points per game heading into Sunday.

“I thought Brandon (Stephens) was really good,” Harbaugh said. “I thought about the things (Wiggins) needed to do better from one week to the next, he did it. He fixed them. Marlon (Humphrey) was all over the guys there. Our safeties were well covered. It’s nice to feel like you can have confidence playing in man coverage.”

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