The Patriots should not be afraid to run against the Ravens.
There are many reason why I believe the Patriots should run the ball against the Ravens. Today my focus is going to be on the fact that the Ravens really aren't that great against the run.
Looking at the Ravens' schedule this season, they never really played a team that could run the ball. The best running team they faced this season was the Houston Texans. Over the course of the season the Texans ranked 5th in yards per game with 135.1 for an average of 3.9 yards per carry. When the Texans faced the Ravens supposed daunting run defense, they saw a small drop off in their average. The Texans ran the ball 38 times for a total of 123 yards (an average of 3.2 yards per carry). If you take out the Texans' last 6 running plays (2, -4, -2, -1, -1 and 1 yards) the total yards and average yards per carry increase to128 yards and 4 yards per carry respectively. If you are wondering why I'm choosing to take those plays out of the statistics it's because the Texans were running down the clock as they beat the Ravens 25-13.
The second best running team the Ravens faced this year was the Bengals. In their first game against the Bengals the Ravens allowed only 79 yards on 26 carries (3 yards per carry). In their second meeting they allowed 111 yards on 34 carries (3.3 yards per carry). While the Bengals did not have token "run out the clock" run plays at the end of both games, they were victorious nonetheless.
The third best running team the Ravens faced this season was the Carolina Panthers. This time the Ravens held their competition well below their average and won the game. Of course the Panthers pretty much played the game without a running back as Jonathan Stewart was out with a knee injury and DeAngelo Williams left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury.
If you take out these 4 games, 3 of which were losses, the remaining teams on the Ravens' schedule have an average ranking of 20.25 out of 32. Given a cake schedule like that, is there any wonder how the Ravens had the 4th ranked defense against the run?
The third best running team the Ravens faced this season was the Carolina Panthers. This time the Ravens held their competition well below their average and won the game. Of course the Panthers pretty much played the game without a running back as Jonathan Stewart was out with a knee injury and DeAngelo Williams left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury.
If you take out these 4 games, 3 of which were losses, the remaining teams on the Ravens' schedule have an average ranking of 20.25 out of 32. Given a cake schedule like that, is there any wonder how the Ravens had the 4th ranked defense against the run?
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