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The pecking order for Ravens pass rushers looked very different in training camp. At the top was Nnamdi Madubuike, a two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman. Not far behind were Kyle Van Noy and Odafe Oweh, both coming off double-digit-sack seasons. Mike Green was the rookie star with first-round tools.

If defensive coordinator Zach Orr needed a sack, the thinking went, surely at least a few of his first picks would hail from that group.

But on Sunday, the Ravens closed out a win over quarterback Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals with a trio that would’ve been unimaginable weeks ago, much less months ago. Defensive lineman Travis Jones and outside linebackers Dre’Mont Jones and Tavius Robinson shared the field for 19 defensive snaps in the 24-0 win, the Ravens’ first shutout since 2018. They left the Bengals’ offense as cold as the ice-covered seats inside Paycor Stadium.

On his 18 drop-backs against the group, Burrow went 7-for-15 for 54 yards, scrambled twice for 5 yards, took one sack and threw two interceptions, the last of which outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy handed off to safety Alohi Gilman for an 84-yard touchdown return midway through the fourth quarter. Overall, the Bengals averaged 2.5 yards per play and had a ghastly 21.1% success rate in their 19 plays when the Joneses and Robinson were on the field together.

“When your quarterback plays like that, your team is not going to have a chance to win,” Burrow said. “I’m obviously disappointed in my play today, so I have to be better.”

He could do only so much to prepare for the trio. Until Sunday, they’d never played together. Travis Jones has been a force on the Ravens’ defensive front all season, thrust into more of a pass-rushing role since Madubuike’s season-ending neck injury in Week 2, but Dre’Mont Jones and Robinson were new tag team partners. Jones was acquired in early November before the trade deadline to boost a flagging outside linebacker group that had lost Oweh to a midseason trade and seen Van Noy struggle. Robinson was making his first appearance since he broke his foot in Week 6.

Their pass rush credentials entering Sunday were unimpressive: just 9.5 combined sacks. But their on-field interplay was seamless. Of Burrow’s 14 pressured drop-backs, seven came on plays featuring the Joneses and Robinson, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. Overall, the Ravens had a 38.9% pressure rate when the trio were on the field. (The Minnesota Vikings, by comparison, lead the NFL this season with a 41% pressure rate.)

Dre’Mont Jones was the headliner despite being held without a sack. He finished with five quarterback hits and seven pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, his most in a game since 2022. Jones won with speed and power, and he did it against both sides of a Bengals offensive line that had kept Burrow well protected in a Week 13 blowout win in Baltimore.

“That’s kind of why we wanted him,” coach John Harbaugh said Monday of Jones, whom the Ravens acquired by sending a conditional fifth-round draft pick to the Tennessee Titans. “That’s why we were excited — one of the reasons we were excited to have him — but he’s a good football player. He plays really hard and tough, and he has good balance when he’s rushing, stays on his feet and gives you the best chance to wrap up a quarterback like Burrow, who’s tough to get down.”

Travis Jones and Robinson, both of whom recorded a sack Sunday, played off Dre’Mont Jones well in the Ravens’ pass rush games as interior disrupters. On stunts and twists, they barreled across the line of scrimmage into Bengals linemen, creating new lanes for teammates looping around the traffic. On Gilman’s touchdown, Travis Jones and Van Noy both faked interior rushes before dropping into shallow zones over the middle, sowing enough confusion up front that Robinson got an unblocked path to Burrow.

“We had both those guys [Dre’Mont Jones and Robinson] out there at the same time a number of times,” Harbaugh said. “Two heavy-handed pass rushers, that’s the biggest impact. Our defensive personality has always been what it is, so he fits it really well.”

The Ravens will need to keep the pressure on Sunday night. New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye is an NFL Most Valuable Player favorite and dangerous scrambler, but he’s been sacked 43 times this season, fourth most in the league. Dre’Mont Jones has one of them, a Week 7 takedown in a 31-13 home loss for Tennessee.

“We have guys who all can rush, and I can rush myself,” he said after Sunday’s game. He rattled off the names and nicknames of his teammates up front. “They all have to do their part so I can do my part, too.”

RPO review

Jackson’s longest completion Sunday was also one of his easiest. Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins’ 32-yard catch-and-run in the second quarter came on an apparent run-pass-option play, with Jackson turning down a handoff to find Hopkins open over the middle.

Harbaugh said Monday that the Ravens have not de-emphasized RPOs this season, but Jackson’s stats say otherwise. RPO data can be hard to measure because of the difficulty in knowing whether a passing concept was attached to a run play or whether a run fake was predetermined on a passing play. But according to Pro Football Reference, Jackson ran 95 RPOs last season for 724 yards, including 59 pass attempts for 566 yards. This year, in a season marred by lower-body injuries, he’s run 37 RPOs for 367 yards, including 21 pass attempts for 289 yards.

According to Sports Info Solutions, meanwhile, Jackson had 18 RPO drop-backs last year, going 11-for-14 for 57 yards. This year, he’s had just five, going 5-for-5 for 71 yards.

Kolar express

Tight end Charlie Kolar got a game ball Sunday for his special teams contributions: three tackles on kickoff coverage, including two stops inside Cincinnati’s 30-yard line.

But his value to the Ravens’ run game was just as obvious. Of the team’s six designed runs that went for at least 10 yards, Kolar was on the field for five of them. Notably, he cleared a path as a front-side blocker on running back Keaton Mitchell’s 15-yard run, sprinted into space as a downfield blocker on running back Derrick Henry’s 29-yard misdirection play, had a key down block on a 22-yard inside carry by Henry and helped wall off two Bengals defenders as a front-side blocker on Mitchell’s 22-yard outside run.

Over the past two games, during which the Ravens have rushed for 406 yards (6.3 per carry), their offense has averaged 7.4 yards per carry and 3.4 yards before contact per carry when Kolar’s been on the field, according to SIS.

Kolar, who has nine catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns, is on pace for a career-best year as a receiver. But as he nears the end of his rookie contract, he’s made his biggest impact — and likely made himself millions — as a run blocker.