MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
When last seen, the Baltimore Ravens were busy punching the Kansas City Chiefs’ ticket to the Super Bowl.
You remember it well – the AFC Championship Game played in Baltimore when the Ravens hand-delivered a 17-10 victory to the eventual world champion Chiefs.
The Chiefs did nothing spectacular that evening, but to their credit, they didn’t get in the way of the generosity or stupidity of the Ravens. They also benefited a great deal from the generosity of the notorious Shawn Smith officiating crew in not so much what was called, but by what penalties were not called.
But let’s not downplay the Ravens’ role in getting the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl in further building on their recent postseason resume of helping teams not from Baltimore advance in the playoffs.
The Ravens never trailed by more than 10 points in this game, yet played from the beginning as though they were down by 30.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is blamed for everything short of border security, certainly earned his share of it that night, but the Ravens coaching staff did nothing to help him, beginning with the abandonment of the running game.
I understand it’s painful to dwell on the past, but I am also a big believer in, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it,” which the Ravens continuously do.
More than anything, though, it was all so remarkably stupid, I just have to repeat it to believe that they really did do this.
So …
The Ravens, who produced the NFL’s top rushing attack last season — averaging 163.8 yards per game — were 11-1 when their running backs touched the ball at least 20 times and 3-4 when they had less than 20 touches. So, naturally, in the biggest game of the year, Ravens running backs touched the ball six times and the Ravens rushed the ball 16 times overall against a team that had given up 4.5 yards per rushing attempt during the season and 182 yards the previous week to the Buffalo Bills.
The Ravens failed to utilize play-action against the Chiefs, who struggled to defend it all year, running it only three times in the first half and four times in the third quarter. In the end, Jackson was 5-for-9 for 113 yards and a touchdown on play-action.
During the regular season, 55% of the Ravens’ plays were designed runs or play-action. With a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, it was just 34%.
Go figure, right? To this day, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh says he still hasn’t, which I find rather hard to believe.
Yet all things begin anew, right? Tomorrow is another day, and today is the first day of the rest of your life and all of that. Well, sure enough, another NFL season begins today when the Ravens take on those same Chiefs, this time in Kansas City, in the league’s annual celebration of self-love to start the new season.
As of late Wednesday the Chiefs entered as a 3-point favorite, which means Vegas believes this is going to be a tight one because home-field advantage alone is three points. Then again, Vegas believed the Ravens would run the football last year against one of the poorest run defenses in the league, but, of course, we’ve already touched on that.
Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta did his best to make a trade for Tennessee Titans star running back Derrick Henry prior to last year’s trade deadline, but the Titans wouldn’t pull the trigger. Henry apparently wanted to go to Baltimore, because when he became a free agent he signed with the Ravens and is now their No. 1 running back (we think).
In the first eight years of his career Henry has had some of his best games against Kansas City, running for 672 yards with eight touchdowns in six games, including the playoffs.
When asked last week whether he would have been the difference for a Ravens victory in the AFC Championship Game, Henry said he was thinking along those lines as he watched the game because he understood how close he had come to being traded to the Ravens.
“Hell yes. I was wishing I could suit up that day (when I was) watching that game,” he said. “But, yes, now it’s my turn, so (I have) to take advantage of it. It’s going to be a hell of a game. The Chiefs are always tough, they’re solid on all three phases, so we’ve got to be locked in this week to be able to execute on Thursday.”
Would Henry have made a difference that night? It depends on whether or not he would have touched the ball more than six times the way Gus Edwards and Justice Hill did.
Laugh if you wish to, but the Ravens did lead the NFL in rushing without Derrick Henry.
It’s all on the sideline.
So … Happy NFL.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @MikeBurkeMDT