Dean Pees quietly takes over Ravens Defense…

The news was almost lost in the post-Super Bowl noise and the hiring of former Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano to become head coach of the Indianapolis Colts…

Ravens linebacker coach Dean Pees is now the DC of the Ravens…

Respected among his peers but little known by most Ravens fans, Dean Pees has some big-time shoes to fill in Baltimore…

When linebackers coach Dean Pees was promoted to the defensive coordinator job last week, he said it was a “humbling” opportunity. He also knows it is an opportunity filled with high expectations.

The Baltimore defense has finished in the league’s top 10 for nine straight seasons, including six in the top 5. Three of the previous four Ravens defensive coordinators have gone on to become NFL head coaches.

“The tradition of this defense will continue, and it will flourish and it will even get better,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “It will be in Coach Pees’ hands.”

So, the keys of the defense were officially handed over to Pees, and so has the responsibility of maintaing the Ravens’ aggressive approach. If the defense fails to put pressure on the quarterback, the pressure will fall on Pees. He has the challenge of following Chuck Pagano, who left to become the Colts’ head coach. In one season under Pagano, the Ravens went from a team record-low 27 sacks to finishing tops in the AFC.

Pees’ track record says he will handle the job. When Pees was the Patriots’ defensive coordinator from 2006 to 2009, New England ranked in the top 10 in fewest points allowed each season. But there were mixed results as far as where the Patriots ranked in sacks during that four-year period: 5th (2006), 2nd (2007), 14th (2008) and 23rd (2009).

Pees went immediately from being the Patriots defensive coordinator to Ravens linebackers coach last season, a move that has drawn many questions about his departure from New England. “I decided not to go back there,” Pees said. “I was not fired. I decided to explore other avenues and this was a great avenue to explore.”

Dean Pees is 62 years old. He was born and raised in Ohio and graduated from Bowling Green University.  From there he taught school and coached high school football for six years until landing the defensive coordinator job at the University of Findlay in 1979.

From there, his coaching resume reads like this:

With the promotion of Pees, Ted Monachino, who focused on the outside linebackers last year, is now in charge of the entire Ravens LB group.

We’ll probably never know all the reasons why Pees left New England after such a long and overall successful run there, but I choose to take him at his word— “The Ravens (are) a great avenue to explore…”