Don’t look now but the Ravens can run the football.
Much of the Ravens offseason was spent getting back to what Baltimore has usually done best on offense: running the football.
The Lions hired Jim Caldwell to be their head coach, and that brought new offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak to town along with his run-friendly offense and through three weeks of the young season, the Ravens are back in the business of a successful run game.
Entering week four, the Ravens, per NFL.com own the leagues eighth-best rushing mark.
The offensive backfield consisting of Bernard Pierce, Justin Forsett and rookie Lorenzo Taliaferro have combined for 393 rushing yards on 76 attempts (89 including Flacco and Jones) for an average of 4.6 yards per carry.
“You have to have depth at running back to compete in this league. That’s been proven – proven all across the league,” Harbaugh acknowledged about his backs on Monday.
“Even when you think you have a premier guy, you still need running backs. I love competition. I love the fact that those guys are battling each other as well as our opponents for yards.”
While it remains to be seen if the team has it’s first running back controversy once veteran Bernard Pierce returns to action, the Ravens should certainly go with the hot hand and at the moment that’s the tandem of Forsett and Taliaferro as we saw on Sunday against Cleveland.
Forsett has been everything the Ravens hoped for and has been by far the best back on the team. This has, through three weeks, resulted in Forsett seeing more snaps than either Taliaferro or Pierce.
Forsett has been on the field for a total of 31 run plays and 68 passing plays. While his hands could be better out of the backfield (-2.4 grade on Pro Football Focus), his bread and butter has been running the football along with pass pro resulting in a PFF grade of +2.5 and +1.4 respectively.
Sunday was the “coming out” party for the rookie Taliaferro. Seeing his first touches of the year, the former Coastal Carolina back led the charge out of the Ravens backfield. His 91 rushing yards on 18 carries added the much needed spark the Ravens desperately needed against the Browns.
Hopefully the Ravens will continue to use the bruising back running off right tackle as he enjoyed great success running behind Yanda.
Pierce’s one-cut running style is built for Kubiak’s new offense when healthy. While it’s true he missed just his first career game on Sunday, it’s clear he is another hit away from missing even more time.
His 113 rushing yards on 28 carries is better than last year, yet it’s still hard to count on him week in and week out.
The AFC North is built on running the football. When the weather gets cold and the winds start swirling, the Ravens will have flexibility with their three backs who will all hopefully contribute when their numbers are called.
“Yes, that’s the plan. Three backs that can all play a role – absolutely. That helps us and it makes us stronger.”
Just how strong remains to be seen but for now the Ravens are certainly on the right path of resurrecting from their 2013 run game.
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