Reviewing the Ravens rushing attack

The Ravens offense struggled mightily last season running the ball. Starter Ray Rice managed just 660 yards on 214 attempts at 3.1 yards per carry; while his back up Bernard Pierce took 152 carries for 436 yards, a 2.9 yards per carry average. Clearly something needed to be done to fix these numbers.

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During the offseason, they hired Gary Kubiak to install his zone-blocking scheme, hoping that he could get their rushing game back on track and lay a foundation for the offense to build upon. Justin Forsett was brought as a zone-running veteran to help show the rest of the backs how it should be run. Forsett has since emerged as the starting back, taking the bulk of the carries. Through eight games, Forsett has 571 yards on 104 rushes (5.5 yards per attempt). Forsett is just 89 yards away from Rice’s season total last year, having carried the ball 110 less times. At his current pace, Forsett will have 1177 yards by the time he reaches 214 rushes, almost double that of Rice in 2013.

So how exactly has the Ravens running game turned around so drastically? Much has been made of the zone scheme and how effective it is, but it’s only effective if blocked correctly. Baltimore’s offensive line have seemingly bought in and are executing their assignments well. Obviously, every players has his ups and downs; but for the most part, the Ravens offensive line are giving Forsett (and the other backs) clear and easy lanes to run through.

They’ve done an excellent job blocking the front side of their stretch zone runs.

Here, the Ravens are running a stretch play to the left, or 19 weak. This is a tough assignment for the front side blockers. Left tackle Eugene Monroe has to get a punch into the defensive end and then work up to the middle (Mike) linebacker. Left guard Kelechi Osemele has to reach across and get a block on the defensive end after Monroe lands his punch. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk takes on the weakside (Will) backer.

You can see just after the snap, Monroe lands his punch on the defensive end to help Osemele secure the block. He then has to move up to the second level to take the Mike.

Juszczyk does an excellent job kicking out the Will and Monroe does the same to the Mike. Osemele seals off the inside and Lorenzo Taliaferro has an easy read and run.

Receiver Steve Smith even gets in on the blocking, allowing Taliaferro to bounce his run outside and walk freely into the end zone.

But it’s not just the front side blockers that have been strong.

Here’s another stretch play to the left. This time the tight end lines up on the left side. But he sifts back across the line to block the backside defensive end. Meanwhile, right guard Marshal Yanda and right tackle Ricky Wagner make the key blocks.

Yanda has one of the tougher blocks on this play, he has to reach across to pick up the nose tackle one-on-one. Wagner has to work up to the second level to take on the linebacker.

Taliaferro decides to cut it back inside. Yanda battles to stop the nose tackle from working back inside, While Wagner approaches the linebacker on the second level to seal the defense on the outside.

Yanda and Wagner execute well and Taliaferro cuts back inside cleanly and works up to the second level untouched before getting into the end zone.

Credit must also be given to center Jeremy Zuttah. In this offense, the center is typically the one making the majority of the blocking calls, having to correctly identify and diagnose the defense to know who has to pick up each defender. The center can also be involved with either the front side or backside blocking on any given play, depending on the defense. His ability to block a nose tackle lined up directly over him one play, and then reach a tackle shaded either side of him the next is crucial.

This is once again a zone stretch to the left. Zuttah has the crucial block, to reach and hook the nose tackle to cut him off from the play. If he cuts off the nose tackle, the backside blocking is almost irrelevant as the left tackle and left guards should have relatively easy blocks in this look.

Zuttah almost gets too far outside of the nose tackle, having to work hard to contain him inside and not allow him to burst into the backfield.

But Zuttah manages to seal off the nose tackle from making the play. The left guard and tackle make their blocks and Forsett walks through the hole to the outside on his way to a 21-yard run.

Overall, we’ve seen a huge improvement so far from last season. All the parts of the offensive line are working well together to execute this zone-blocking scheme, which provides the foundation for the rest of the offense to build from.