Fueled by the immense effort of veteran journeyman running back Justin Forsett, the Ravens’ rushing attack has been one of the league’s finest this season.
An improved offensive line, a better offensive scheme and quality play from the running backs – particularly Forsett – has allowed the Ravens to accumulate the fifth-most rushing yards (1,581) in the NFL through 12 games.
Last season’s abysmal offensive effort stemmed from poor running back and offensive line play, but this season, the ground game has improved the offense as a whole. Not only are the Ravens sixth in the NFL with 27.3 points per game, they’re also 10th in total yards per game.
The quality, balanced offensive performance is one of the reasons why the Ravens are 7-5 and in the playoff hunt.
But despite the successful ground game, those behind Forsett on the depth chart haven’t been nearly as successful, particularly third-year running back Bernard Pierce.
After a undeniably poor performance in 2013 in which he averaged just 2.9 yards per carry on 152 attempts while scoring only two touchdowns, Pierce was primed for a bounce back season of some sort.
While he has improved his statistics (3.5 yards per carry), Pierce still hasn’t appeared to play much better than last season. Once a wildly promising prospect for the Ravens who averaged 4.9 yards per carry as a rookie in 2012, Pierce’s career has steadily declined, now to the point that it’s hard to picture him ever returning to the quality player he was two seasons ago.
Pierce’s lack of inherent burst or athleticism has been hobbled by a seemingly decreased quality of vision and patience as a runner.
Despite the decline, Pierce has still managed to receive a considerable workload, carrying the ball 21 times over the past three games, compared to just three carries for rookie Lorenzo Taliaferro (all vs. Tennessee on November 9).
A fumble against the Pittsburgh Steelers on November 2 – despite what head coach John Harbaugh says – likely contributed to Taliaferro’s carry-less two-game streak; however, earlier in the season the rookie proved himself as the best option behind Forsett.
Pierce simply hasn’t been a productive running back, and on many plays, it’s almost a waste to even let him touch the football.
How has Pierce struggled while Forsett and Taliaferro are consistently picking up yards?
Pierce once compensated for his lack of extra burst or speed with impressive field vision and patience out of the backfield. This season, the same can’t be said.
Part of the success for Forsett and Taliaferro is their ability to cut back and find holes across the offensive line instead of either simply following blocks or trying to use their speed to beat defenders on the outside.
Here, Pierce has essentially three possibilities of where to go with the ball, with the lane off his left shoulder – a cutback lane – being the most desirable.
Instead of making the easy one-step cut back toward his left to the wide open run lane, Pierce decides to continue his run toward the outside where multiple San Diego Chargers defenders stand in his way.
As noted, Pierce is far from the fastest of NFL running backs, and if a player were to decide to bounce to the outside in the way Pierce does, he’d have to simply be the fastest player on the field in order to pick up a considerable amount of yards.
Pierce isn’t quick enough to beat defenders to the outside, though, making open interior lanes the more ideal route to gain yards.
Of course, Pierce is met by more than one San Diego defender on the edge for almost no gain.
What has made Forsett such a valuable running back to the Baltimore offense this season is his ability to choose the correct run lane, especially when opting to cut back inside instead of attempting to burst around the edge.
Had Pierce cut back, he would have gained at least five yards, if not more, depending on the angle of the interior San Diego defenders.
Along with Pierce’s spotty vision and his indecisiveness with the ball in his hands, Pierce seems to have a lack of a desire to gain as many yards as possible.
Here, Pierce has two run lanes to choose, with the open middle of the field being the more ideal despite the presence of Tennessee Titans linebacker Avery Williamson.
After receiving the handoff, it’s easy to notice that Pierce’s first reaction is to head toward the open field.
Instead of using the vast amount of open field to his right, Pierce stops in his tracks and attempts to follow the blocks on the left side of the offensive line.
While the decision to head toward the left side could at the very least lead to some amount of yards by Pierce, his indecisiveness leads to neither that nor a decision to go back toward the open field to his right.
Instead, Pierce inexplicably drops his shoulder into Williamson, who makes the easy tackle.
Not exactly the best utilization of his blocks by Pierce.
In the same game, Pierce and Williamson meet again, with a similar result.
After receiving the handoff, Pierce assesses his options out of the backfield.
While there is a tremendous amount of open space in the middle of the field again this time, hitting that hole wouldn’t necessarily behoove Pierce as Williamson is unblocked on the play and is athletic enough to pick up Pierce in the run lane.
With that in mind, the more desirable run lanes for Pierce are the ones off the backs of his blockers to his left, even including in this case, the outside, where it would make some sense this time to head toward.
But just as was the case in the previous play, Pierce’s indecisiveness and/or poor vision leads to none of the above happening.
Instead, Pierce (again!) runs straight at Williamson and simply drops his shoulder into the defender, leading to an easy tackle.
Even if Pierce felt none of the run lanes were ideal, what purpose does it serve to simply give up on the play by just taking on Williamson and dropping his shoulder?
With no momentum accumulated so early in the play, it’s not as if Pierce is going to truck over any defenders. At least try to make a play and gain some yards.
Continuing to give Pierce the football is not getting the Baltimore offense anywhere. Perhaps Taliaferro is still in the doghouse for his fumble, even though Harbaugh publicly stated on Monday that he is not. However zero carries in two games for a running back averaging 4.2 yards per carry and noticeably performing better than Pierce is a bit suspicious.
Regardless of whether or not Taliaferro is being punished, continuing to put Pierce in the backfield isn’t doing Baltimore’s offense any favors. He simply isn’t a reliable or ideal running back to be using as a backup, and his performance over the past two seasons makes it hard to buy into him as a long-term ball carrier in Baltimore.
The Ravens need to make several adjustments in order to put things together for the final four-game run toward the playoffs; adjusting the lineup in the backfield is one problem that could be fixed.
