CLEVELAND — The Baltimore Ravens have “turned back the clock,” so to speak, over the last six weeks of the 2018 regular season and gone with a run-heavy offense to complement a stout defensive effort as rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson adjusted to the NFL level.
The Ravens (9-6) have averaged 218.5 rushing yards with Jackson (once) and Gus Edwards (three times) eclipsing the 100-yard plateau on multiple occasions with two running scores each on the way to five wins in the last six weeks.
“They have done a very good job of adapting to how to take care of the players they are coaching, but still keep that old-fashioned demeanor, that old-fashioned toughness,” interim coach Gregg Williams said. “It has always been something that when you get ready to play the Ravens, no matter what division you were in, that was part of it.”
The versatile Jackson has rushed for 605 yards and three touchdowns on 127 carries, meaning he averages 4.8 yards per attempt. Although Jackson has committed 10 fumbles, only three of those became turnovers, as the Ravens recovered the other seven loose balls.
Over the last six weeks, Jackson has turned 99 carries into 466 yards, two rushing scores and a 4.7 yards-per-attempt average. He surpassed the 100-yard mark in a 24-21 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, and then, after back-to-back 70-yard, one-touchdown showings, he accounted for 95 rushing yards on 18 attempts in a 20-12 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In his six starts, Jackson has completed 78 of his 134 for 935 yards with five touchdowns against three interceptions. Along with the six starts, Jackson has seen action in nine other games and totaled 85 of his 146 attempts for 1,022 yards and six touchdowns against the three interceptions.
“Play-action effectiveness comes from run effectiveness,” Williams said. “If you can’t run the ball effectively, then what is play-action? It is nothing because no one takes the fake. In that respect, you have to understand what your scheme responsibility is. Is it being in coverage or run? The people in coverage, it can’t be this simple -- it goes back to the old days of football all the way back in its oldest days.
“If you are supposed to cover somebody, stay back there and cover them. Do not let your eyes tell you a lie. When their eyes start looking in the wrong place is when that gets caught. Their effectiveness in the run game makes you possibly put your eyes in the wrong place. We have to over-coach, ‘Do not put your eyes there.’”
With the Ravens needing a victory over the Browns to win the AFC North Division and return to the postseason and Cleveland with a chance at their first winning record since 2007, Williams is expecting an old-fashioned, physical football game.
“It is about defending every blade of grass, whether it be in run or it be in pass,” Williams said.
“We have to go in and finish this game strong. It is about playing every game we step inside of the white lines a certain way. That is how this young team is learning how to do that. I think it is going to continue to improve as long as that mindset stays there.”
