Calais Campbell dominated Sunday in Philadelphia and the league took notice.
The Ravens' veteran defensive end was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week, marking the second straight week the award has gone to Baltimore. Rookie linebacker Patrick Queen took it home for Week 5.
Campbell notched three sacks and four quarterback hits against the Eagles, helping the Ravens overcome the absences of nose tackle Brandon Williams and fellow defensive end Derek Wolfe.
After being acquired via a trade with Jacksonville this offseason, Campbell now leads the Ravens with four sacks in six games. He had 6.5 sacks all last season, so it could be a resurgent year in the pass-rush department for the 34-year-old five-time Pro Bowler.
Since 2014, only Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald has more games with at least three sacks (five) than Campbell's four.
It's clear that the 6-foot-8 Campbell can still dominate at the point of attack, using his height and athleticism to his advantage. On Monday, Head Coach John Harbaugh called Campbell a "rare" player.
"I give the Cardinals a lot of credit when Calais came out; he was a great player at [the University of] Miami, but that was the question that you had, all the way back then – is he going to be able to maintain leverage on these NFL blockers? Especially in the run game?" Harbaugh said.
"Not only has he maintained leverage – he's dominated leverage. And he did it again yesterday, numerous times. He's a very different kind of a player. He's very unusual. He's pretty special."
It's the third time the Ravens have won a weekly honor this season. Lamar Jackson took home AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors after his Week 1 performance against the Cleveland Browns.
