The Baltimore Ravens knew from the get go here in 2014 that their offense had the chance to be much improved from a year ago. Through the first nine games of the 2013 season, the Ravens went 4-5. At that point, they were tied with the Cleveland Browns for second place in the AFC North division. The 2014 season has been a nice turn around for the Ravens. Flacco is throwing less while the backfield is running more. The improvement has been quite a welcome sight to behold for Ravens fans (or, it had until the last two weeks, anyway).
Through the first nine games of last year, Joe Flacco completed 204 of 346 passing attempts, for a completion percentage of 58%. This year, Flacco has thrown the ball 324 times while completing 203 of those attempts, a completion percentage of 62%.
He threw the ball more than 40 times in three out of his first nine games of 2013. All three of those games were losses. Flacco has thrown the ball over 40 times twice this year – and again, both were Ravens losses.
The first half of last year put a boulder on Flacco’s shoulders.
Flacco attempted fewer than 30 passes in just one of the first nine games in 2013, the Week 3 win against Houston. This year the Ravens are 3-0 when Flacco has fewer than 30 attempts. In those three games, Joe threw nine of his 16 touchdowns and only two of his eight interceptions. But the Ravens need Flacco to hit targets in the end zone; the team is 0-2 when Flacco doesn’t throw a touchdown.
Now, how about the running game?
Ravens running backs have accounted for 1,052 yards on 226 attempts through nine games this season while finding the end zone nine times. That is an extra 580 yards on just 12 more attempts compared to last year! Through the first half of 2013 the Ravens backfield averaged 2.6 yards per carry, compared to this year’s backfield’s 4.6 yards per carry led by the guy leading the league in YPC, Justin Forsett. The Ravens are 5-0 this season when they have over 100 yards. They’re 0-4 when rushing for fewer than 100 yards as a team.
It’s the old chicken-or-the-egg question as pertains to football – do teams win by running, or do they run when they’re winning? When talking about the Ravens, it’s probably a bit of both. Here’s hoping to see more running, less passing, and more winning in the push for the postseason.
