The latest news covering the Baltimore Ravens.
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What we learned in NFL Week 4: Ravens get mojo back, Vikings prove staying power
Zak Keefer, The Athletic
This was Baltimore at its best, bruising on defense and punishing with the football. It started with Derrick Henry’s 87-yard touchdown burst on the first play from scrimmage, the longest by any team to open a game in 11 years. And from there it was a beatdown, methodical and convincing, one of the more impressive showings by any team nearly a quarter of the way into the season. The Bills (3-1) had looked terrific the last two weeks. Sunday night, they couldn’t keep up.
Jackson threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. In his sixth full year as a starter, he’s now 17-5 in primetime games, the second-best record of any quarterback all-time behind only Hall of Famer Steve Young.
Why your NFL team won, lost in Week 4
Thomas Valentine, Pro Football Focus
This was the Ravens at their best in all three phases, displaying the type of form that, if Why the Ravens won: Baltimore had the benefit of allowing its dynamic rushing attack to carve up a Bills defense that hasn’t been great against the run. The Ravens rushed for 270 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 7.9 yards per carry. Derrick Henry did a chunk of damage on an 87-yard touchdown score to start the game, and Lamar Jackson added a rushing touchdown later in the game. Altogether, Henry earned a 76.9 rushing grade.
Why the Bills lost: The Ravens defense swarmed Josh Allen all night. The Bills quarterback was sacked three times and pressured on 42.9% of his dropbacks, completing five of his 12 pressured pass attempts. Allen was on the run often, and the Ravens’ defense did an excellent job of getting home.
NFL Week 4 best and worst coaching decisions: Kliff Kingsbury, Todd Monken run wild
Ted Nguyen, The Athletic
In the season’s first two games, Henry only had 14 combined runs from under center. In the last two, he’s had 32 runs from under center. He’s rushed for 172 yards (5.2 yards per carry) on those 32 carries. These stats don’t include his runs from pistol, which are obviously effective. Lamar Jackson is less of a threat on under-center runs because quarterback options aren’t available but the sacrifice is well worth it to get Henry going.
Monken should also get credit for being willing to dial down his desire to get into spread formations and air the ball out — an adjustment I don’t think he would have made last season. He also cranked up the Ravens’ play-action rate to 61.9 percent against the Bills, by far their highest of the season. This was a smart approach against the Bills, who are decimated at linebacker.
Ravens become first team in NFL history to pull off this rushing feat, plus 13 more wild stats from Week 4
John Breech, CBS Sports
A big reason why the Ravens won is because Buffalo simply had no answers for Baltimore’s rushing attack. Behind the power of Derrick Henry and the finesse of Lamar Jackson, the Ravens were able to outgain the Bills by 190 yards on the ground (271-81).
The reason that’s notable is because the Ravens are now the first team in NFL history to outrush their opponents by at least 100 yards in each of their first four games. Also, Jackson and Henry have combined for 788 rushing yards on the season, which is the most in NFL history by a QB/RB duo through four weeks.
The fact that the Ravens are running so well should scare the rest of the league. John Harbaugh is 36-5 when his team rushes for at least 200 yards and 16-1 when that number hits 250.