–The Ravens are taking pride in their old-school style of football defined by a solid defense and effectively running the ball.
This strategy goes against the grain of a pass-happy NFL. While some detractors claim the Ravens cannot sustain this style of offense, the coaches and players think otherwise.
“I feel good about it. To me, it’s good football,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said. “I talked to my dad, obviously; he has good feelings about it. It’s good football, and I appreciate the way our guys are playing.
“I think we can play better football, and Terrell Suggs mentioned to me in the locker room after the game that very thing, that when we talk to the guys on Tuesday, this is one of the things we need to talk about. We can play better football – better winning football – and that’s what we’ll keep striving for. But, I do agree with that, and it’s a good point.”
–The Ravens managed three consecutive drives that lasted seven minutes or more last week against the Buccaneers. Baltimore also held the ball for 37 minutes.
That style of play will be key again this week against the Chargers.
“We’ve all watched a lot of football, and we know how hard it is to get stops at the end and to win games and to finish,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said. “So, it means a lot to finish the game on offense, not put your defense back on the field. It means everything when you have the lead. For our offense to be able to do that is such a credit to them, all of them, every single guy, every single guy that was on the field, to go out there and end the game (in) seven minutes and, what, 50 seconds? I think something like that.
“We get the ball and we finish on a knee. I’ve seen that we were five times in the red zone and we were, what, 2-of-5? Well, one of those trips was taking a knee, and that has happened two or three times in the last four or five weeks. You guys should account for that. We have to be better in the red zone. There’s no doubt we want to score touchdowns, but when you’re taking a knee in the red zone to end the game, that’s OK, and that’s a credit to the guys,” he said.
BY THE NUMBERS: 36 – An NFL-high 10-play drives by the Ravens’ offense, with an NFL-best 19 resulting in touchdowns.
