For every catch that a Ravens wide receiver makes this camp, there seems to be at least one fist from a defender flying in to punch the ball out.

If the defense isn’t coming down with the interception, then it will do what it takes to force the fumble. Sometimes the player hits the ball; sometimes the punch glances off their teammates on the offense.

It’s evidence of the defense’s goal of being the most feared unit in the NFL. They’re backing it up with their fists, their hard hits and their focus on takeaways.

“When we take the ball away, we’ll win,” defensive coordinator Zach Orr said. “When we don’t, we’ve got a good chance of winning, but why put ourselves in that position?”

It’s a simple concept, but it’s become more urgent based on recent Ravens history. Last season, the Ravens ranked 20th of 32 teams with 17 takeaways.

They had zero in the playoffs.

“Us as defensive coaches and players, we look at it as the reason why we didn’t get to where we wanted to get to,” Orr said. “So we’re talking about it every single day.”

To cornerback Marlon Humphrey, the 2000 Ravens defense epitomizes what the present defense wants to be.

And what was a defining characteristic of the 2000 team? Takeaways.

Humphrey posted a picture of the stats from that season. That team had 46 takeaways (nearly triple last year’s) with at least one in every game and as many as six in two games.

Humphrey said the defense can have a good practice, but if there aren’t any takeaways, that changes how they evaluate it.

“You can check all the boxes, but if the turnover box isn’t checked, it wasn’t too good of a practice,” Humphrey said.

The defense started strong with multiple interceptions across the first few days but hasn’t seen any in the past two practices.

Humphrey and the defensive backs are working on challenging the catch, hoping to come down with more interceptions. And, once the catch is made, they’re trying to punch the ball out.

But the guys up front have a role to play, as well, outside linebacker Odafe Oweh said. He brought up one of his own plays from last season when he went for the sack when he could have gone for the forced fumble. Although sacks are a positive, the fumble could have changed the game.

“I feel like we had a minimal amount of fumble, fumble recoveries out of all these sacks we’ve had these past few years,” Oweh said. “And that’s big. That’s a part we can play into it. It’s not just interceptions. We’re working on getting them fumbles or raking the ball out so we can help the guys back there.”

The pass rush can also help out indirectly. Last season, the Ravens saw the most success when their four-man pass rush was effective in pressuring opposing quarterbacks.

More players can drop into coverage, and when the four-man pass rush forces the quarterback to throw faster, he makes worse decisions, leading to more interceptions. Oweh said the defenders up front are focused on beating linemen faster and having fewer “clean-up sacks,” which occur four or more seconds into the play.

Safety Kyle Hamilton said this defense is not yet close to the vaunted 2000 unit. It has talent, but players have to do their jobs and work well together. It’s too early to predict how they’ll look on the field.

“But I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t think we had the potential to be that,” Hamilton said. “That’s the ultimate top of the mountain.”