It was another dominant performance against the run by the Ravens in a 37-27 victory Sunday as a stingy front seven limited the former Ravens star to just 49 rushing yards on 19 carries. Although Lewis averaged only 2.6 yards per carry, Browns coach Romeo Crennel stubbornly kept sending him up the middle to absorb hit after hit.
Days before kickoff, Jamal Lewis insisted the Browns were going to be effective at pounding the football against a defense that ranks first in the NFL against the run at 64.3 yards allowed per contest. He got quieter and quieter in his post-play conversations with the Ravens as the game progressed and he was continually stymied.
“I won’t say too much about it because it’s kind of embarrassing when somebody in the paper says they want to run at you,” Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis said. “If you’re going to run up on a lion, make sure you sneak up on him. Don’t tell him you’re coming.
“For me, that kind of made me look at our guys and say, ‘That’s personal. They want to run the ball.’ They’re talking, but we’re the best team in the NFL at stopping the run.”
The Ravens haven’t allowed an opposing runner to eclipse the 100-yard mark in an NFL-best 27 games, a streak that dates to a Dec. 10, 2006.
A two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Lewis was emphatic that the Ravens are far too stout up front with defensive tackles Haloti Ngata and Justin Bannan. Plus,
“Nobody is going to run the ball,” Lewis said. “That’s a simple fact. That isn’t talking trash. They know it. We don’t have to say it.”
The Browns are 11-1 when Lewis carries it 20 or more times, but that 20th carry Sunday wasn’t going to make a difference.
“Jamal wanted the ball a bunch, and we knew they would try to run the ball,” Ngata said. “We had a great game plan. We tried our best to make them one-dimensional.”
