AU KIRK- Flickr
When it comes to all of the drama surrounding a certain x-Baltimore Ravens’ player, who was recently released due to a video, dropped by TMZ, the fans are the ones who suffer the most. This is because they can’t get an ounce of sports talk into their system on current players. For that, I apologize to you Ravennation.
There are more things going on in Charm City than the aftermath of the loss of a player. With that said lets talk about something positive.
The Offensive-line did a stellar job in run-support for Justin Forsett and the pocket was well established for Joe Flacco’s 62 attempts in the air. Rick Wagner proved to be a more than suitable replacement for the now departed wannabe, Mr. Blindside himself, Michael Oher.
Flacco may have been sacked thrice, but the other 62 times he dropped back to pass, he managed to get the ball off. 4.5% sounds like a low sack percentage to me. Of course over a 16 game stretch that is 48 sacks, so Baltimore aims to get the number of dropbacks down a bit, especially since they shouldn’t be throwing the ball as much.
Statistically speaking, the Ravens win 86% of the time, when the lead back gets 15 or more touches. Those odds say it all. Give Bernard Pierce and Forsett the rock and pound it out!
They have a prime opportunity to pound it out Thursday night against a porous Pittsburgh Steelers’ Defense, that let the Cleveland Browns run all over them Sunday as they racked up 183-yards and 2-tds on the ground.
I am excited to see the Ravens taking advantage of the raw tenacity of Guard Kelechi Osemele on the ground. KO is a nasty brawler of a Guard who is capable of kicking out to Right Tackle is needed.
Then of course there is Probowl Guard Marshall Yanda, who has to be content knowing he has a unit of this caliber working beside him. He is one of the main reasons for the Ravens rushing attack being in the top 10 for years, well except for last year. I still blame Juan Castillo for that mess of a run-attack. Gino Gradkowski and Michael Oher’s inability to adapt to the zone-blocking scheme did not help much either.
This new unit looks leaps and bounds better than last year’s, even in the loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Gary Kubiak deserves a lot of the credit for the improvement. I love how he designs an Offensive run scheme that complements his players strengths. Can this O-Line produce an encore performance of protection and ground support Thursday evening against another division rival? Only time will tell. Until then though, you might want to ensure you start the right Ravens on your Fantasy Football roster for week 2 ahead of time (not the linemen). I know I did. Our guy P.J. Conley can even help you out with that.
Jermaine Lockett is the CEO and a Writer for Couch Rider Report. Follow us on twitter and like us on Facebook.
