The Ravens have the NFL's best rushing attack, led by Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson. Of players with at least 50 carries, Jackson leads the league in yards per attempt at 6.3 and Henry is second with 5.9.
With that in mind, here was this week's question in the Ravens locker room:
How many yards would you get on 10 carries behind Baltimore's offensive line?
NT Michael Pierce
Pierce: "Quite a bit. I wouldn't pop the long ones like Derrick Henry. I could get five yards a pop, for sure. I believe so. If I can run behind Pat Ricard, I'll be alright."
Did you ever play running back?
Pierce: "Yeah, I scored a couple touchdowns in college. That was FCS."
Brandon Stephens: "Man, stop!"
Pierce: "It's on the film. It's documented."
Brandon, he said he could run for five yards a carry in the NFL.
Stephens: "I believe it."
Pierce: "If you got Pat Ricard? You got to think, I'm probably not going to get tackled on the first line. You get to the linebackers, that's four or five yards."
CB Brandon Stephens
Stephens: "I'm going to say four yards a carry. How many carries I got?"
10
Stephens: "10, I'll probably say I get about..."
Pierce: "That's 40 yards, fool."
Stephens: "Yeah, but it's average, though."
Pierce: "I mean it's still 40 yards."
Stephens: "I could pop and get 20 yards. Yeah, I'll probably say about 40, 50 yards."
How do you think it's coming? Are you going to pop one?
Stephens: "Hey, man, I just get what the defense gives me."
LS Nick Moore
Moore: "How many did Derrick Henry run for against Buffalo? 199? Yeah, maybe 197. With our offensive line and Pat Ricard. (laughs) I might fall forward for two yards a carry, so 20."
Do you think you're popping any big ones?
Moore: "If I do pop a big one, it's like five yards because I'll probably get ran down because I'm pretty slow. I did play fullback in college a little bit, but I never got the ball, not in a game. I did score [in a spring game]. But I would say 10 carries for 20 yards, that's got to be the top [for me]. What's the consensus?"
Pierce said five yards a carry.
Moore: "He's 350 pounds or however heavy he is. He's probably faster than me. He's a freak athlete."
Stephens said four yards a carry.
Moore: "He was a running back in college. That's not fair! That's not fair! He's got the vision. My sophomore year at Georgia, Nick Chubb was hurt, some other guys were hurt, Kirby [Smart] just got there, I actually played tailback in spring ball, and this is how well it went for me. My first carry in the spring game, I got through the hole, meet the safety, ran like a power to the left, Lorenzo Carter came up from behind me and I sprained my MCL. That was the end of my running back career, so not super great. (laughs)"
T Roger Rosengarten
Rosengarten: "If this is a toss ... I'll give myself probably like, in total, close to 40 yards."
To your side or Ronnie Stanley's side?
Rosengarten: "My side. But I'd also mix in a trap, too. Like the first play we ran on Buffalo. I'd mix in that. So I'd give myself probably 40 yards on 10 attempts. Actually, I don't know. That's a lot."
Brandon Stephens said 40, but he played running back in college.
Rosengarten: "B-Steve said 40?! Oh, okay, I gotta go lower then. Put it in a range between 30 and 40. And mix in toss plays and trap plays."
Which non skill position player would get the most?
Rosengarten: "Nate Wiggins. Toss or a sweep to Nate Wiggins because the guy can run."
P Jordan Stout
Stout: "Are we running sweeps or just straight up the middle?"
I would say just a mix of a bunch of different plays.
Stout: "I think I'm going to get loose once. Give me 80 yards. I'm going to have like two or three, maybe zero for the majority, but I'm going to break loose and they're not going to catch me. ... You got to have confidence to be great."
G Ben Cleveland
Cleveland: "It depends on what kind of defense we're playing. There's going to be one or two where I get hit for like four or five yards."
Four or five-yard loss?
Cleveland: "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, I'll carry somebody for five yards. I'll go like a solid 75. I'll take seven and a half yards."
That's second highest on the team behind Jordan Stout, who said 80.
Cleveland: "I could believe that. Jordan's got some quick feet. He's fast. I'm just big. I can carry somebody."
