Jeff Zrebiec Says Criticism of Ravens Not Running Enough Against Bengals Is ‘A Little Overblown’
The Bills may have provided a blueprint for the Ravens on how to attack the Steelers defense. Buffalo ran for 249 yards on 51 carries, the most rushing yards Pittsburgh has allowed at home since 1975.
The Ravens have the No. 5-ranked rushing offense, but it has not been as lethal as in previous years, nor as efficient on early downs.
“Baltimore is sixth in early-down run rate with a percentage very comparable to 2024. The problem is ranking only 24th in rushing success rate,” Baltimore Positive’s Luke Jones wrote. “While waiting for a Henry run to pop, there are way too many rushes creating second- and third-and-long situations.”
The Ravens have been criticized for not running enough against the Bengals, specifically Henry not having a carry in the second quarter after he rushed for 33 yards and a touchdown on five carries in the first quarter.
Harbaugh said on Monday that the Ravens are “a running team,” but “the circumstances of the game took us in that direction.”
The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec agreed with Harbaugh’s assessment. Zrebiec said the Ravens should have mixed in more runs, but “the criticism was a little overblown.”
“There were opportunities to run on their first full drive of the second quarter, but it’s hard to gripe too much when that possession would have ended with a touchdown had Isaiah Likely not fumbled the ball as he was going in for the score,” Zrebiec wrote. “The Ravens were then in their two-minute offense for the rest of the second quarter.
“To start the third, Henry got the ball twice, gained 5 total yards and the Ravens went three-and-out. Despite trailing by 12 points midway through the third quarter, Baltimore stuck with the run, and the result was a touchdown drive, culminating in an 18-yard scamper by Keaton Mitchell. Then, for much of the fourth quarter, the Ravens trailed by two scores and were in hurry-up offense. So you’re talking about maybe one or two drives where you could question why they didn’t mix in a few runs. Notable, yes. But hardly the reason the Ravens lost that game.”