WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

Notes, Quotes

The Sports Xchange

December 14, 2018 at 5:05 pm.

–Since the bye week, the Ravens have gone from a pass-heavy offense to focusing on the run.

Head coach John Harbaugh said the transition has been a challenge, but the Ravens have been successful with the adjustments. Baltimore has risen from having the league’s 22nd rushing attack to No. 4 in the past four weeks.

“It’s very difficult,” Harbaugh said. “But I also think that it wasn’t something that was impossible for us. Normally to do what’s been done would be basically impossible – except for the fact that we’ve already built that into our offense. So, we were working the blocking schemes all along in practice, in training camp and all that. We’ve been calling more passes in games than we do now, by far.”

Rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson is a dual threat and has played a key role with the resurgence of the running game. Fellow rookie Gus Edwards and Kenneth Dixon have also helped carry the load.

“The read-option element is a much bigger part of it than it was – those RPOs also – than it was before,” Harbaugh said. “It was much more of a dropback, three-, five-, seven-step dropback game more before. But that’s also part of our game plan still, just obviously, it’s all switched. It’s not impossible for that reason, but I think it’s remarkable and very impressive that our coaches and players have been able to do that. We just have to try to find a way to win the next game.”

–The Ravens running attack has helped the team dominate time of possession, and consequently, kept the defense fresh late in games. As a result, the Ravens have been better getting to the quarterback.

“I do feel good about our pass rush. Our guys are relentless,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “They’re very energetic; they’re strong guys. We do a lot with pressures and things like that – that’s when the secondary comes in. They come in and cover early. It’s not easy.”

BY THE NUMBERS: 90 – Quarterback hits by the Ravens, third-most in the NFL.