With just two games remaining in the NFL season, the Ravens rush offense needs to be cooking. Unfortunately, they suffered a setback in Week 15 against a Jaguars run defense that ranks near the bottom of the league.
Justin Forsett in particular struggled. His 48 rushing yards on 16 carries was the third lowest of the season (38 vs Steelers, 42 vs. Colts) for the jouneryman running back.
Sunday’s all important game against the Texans won’t be about revenge for Forsett; instead the NFL’s fifth best rusher is more focused on getting back on track running the football.
On Wednesday, he spoke about the difficulties the team had in establishing the run a week ago and what the team must do against a Texans defense that’s ranked 14th against the run.
“Just execution,” Forsett stated. “We have to be consistent on the ground, and we have been most of the year, but they gave us a challenge. They did some things. They had a great front seven. They had some guys in the box on us, and they did a good job. Give credit to them; they did a good job.”
Being able to run the football is a must when it comes to crunch time on getting to the postseason and beyond. Nagged by a lingering knee injury over the past few weeks, Forsett was a full participant in practice on Wednesday.
“I feel good. This is actually one of the best Wednesdays that I’ve had in a while. So, my body is feeling good, maintaining, feeling ready to go.”
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That’s great news for a team thats been bitten by the injury big for much of the season. The Ravens, despite losing rookie Lorenzo Taliaferro for the season with a foot injury, are in pretty good shape depth-wise at the running back position to keep Forsett fresh if needed.
With Forsett leading the running back corps in snaps played (620), head coach John Harbaugh acknowledged Bernard Pierce could see an increased workload if needed as he’s played just 148 snaps entering the final two weeks of the season.
“Bernard doesn’t have a lot of carries,” Harbs stated about the Ravens third-year back. “He’s done really well, especially of late. At the end of games, he’s showing up at the end of the games, he’s been strong [and] he’s finished out a couple games for us. So yes, we want to keep building on that. But Bernard has a lot of talent, and he’s very determined right now.”
Reading into Harbaugh’s words, it appears evident that third string running back Fitzgerald Toussaint, who was promoted to the active 53-man roster on December 13, won’t see many snaps (if any) moving forward – a “safety net” role, if you will.
Here’s to hoping it doesn’t come down to that. With Forsett feeling good again, it would be great to see the ground game get rolling once more down in Houston.
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