After Sunday's dominating rushing performance against the New Orleans Saints, teams in the league have to develop a strategy for stopping both facets of the Ravens offense or be buried under insurmountable deficits.
Ray Rice displayed his best game of the season against the Saints with over 150 rushing yards and 80 receiving yards. Joe Flacco threw two touchdowns, one to Rice and another to rookie tight end Ed Dickson.
From a defensive coordinator's perspective, these stats would reveal how integral the run is in Baltimore's offense and shutting it down would make it much more difficult for them to score points.
In the battle for first place in the AFC North, Pittsburgh contained the Baltimore's run game and in the final minutes of the game, dared Flacco to throw the winning touchdown. The result... a fourth down incomplete pass intended for Ed Dickson to sever the chance of a fourth quarter comeback. The Ravens scored only ten points that day.
The aforementioned game featured a unique Pittsburgh Steelers team that leads the league in run defense averaging only 63.4 rushing yards a game. The second best run defense in the league, owned by the San Diego Chargers, averages 89.4 yards per game so you can see how dominant the Steelers defense has been.
No other team in the league is capable of shutting down the Ravens run game quite like the Steelers so stopping the Ravens’ run game is likely to be less achievable for most teams.
Another strategy involves forcing Joe Flacco to make mistakes. If Flacco excessively turns the ball over, his offense can't create enough momentum to come back from behind. The Cincinnati Bengals' week two performance against the Ravens demonstrates how forcing turnovers keeps the Ravens underfoot. Flacco threw four interceptions and only one touchdown in the game.
These two teams play again in week 17 but I can assure you what occurred earlier in the season won't happen again. Flacco hasn't thrown multiple interceptions in a game since their last meeting and doesn't show signs of regressing. The Bengals just snapped a 10 game losing streak with a win against the Browns so they have proved to be nothing more than a perennial loser this season.
Basically what I am saying is, very few teams can boast the talent and scheme capable of shutting down the Ravens offense. The Ravens have not and will not be completely shut out in any game this season as they always find a way to score points. When Rice isn’t playing well, the receivers step up and make plays down the field. In the reverse, when Anquan Boldin, Derrick Mason and TJ Houshmanzadeh have a bad day, Rice puts up career numbers (namely last week).
The most certain way to stop the Ravens' offense is to boss around their inconsistent offensive line and hope Flacco, Rice or some of the receivers make some mistakes the opponent can capitalize upon.
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