The Ravens believed Patrick Queen would have a huge impact on their defense as a rookie, and he's delivering.
Queen was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in Baltimore's 27-3 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. The talented inside linebacker from LSU made game-changing plays, leading a swarming Ravens defense that tormented Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, Queen's college teammate.
In the second quarter, Queen sacked Burrow on a blitz, looping back and blindsiding the quarterback from behind, causing a fumble that Queen recovered.
Then in the fourth quarter, Queen scored his first career touchdown when he recovered a fumble that was forced by Marlon Humphrey and returned it 53 yards for the score.
Queen finished the game with nine tackles, and he leads Baltimore in tackles with 42, including two sacks. Starting from Day 1 as the 28th pick in the draft, Queen has made a seamless transition to the NFL and is a key reason the Ravens are yielding just 15.2 points per game, the fewest in the NFL. He is clearly in the running to be named Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2020, and already has Humphrey's vote.
Queen has shown his skillset over the last few weeks, stopping the run with his sideline-to-sideline speed and pressuring quarterbacks on blitzes. Since a Week 3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Queen has responded with his best two games of the season.
"We bounced back from a few weeks ago that we lost," Queen said. "We've just been coming to work every day trying to get better. As long as we keep taking those steps, we're going to keep stacking these weeks together."
