Again in 2016, then-Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Mularkey stated that the offense he needed to run was referred to as “Unique Smashmouth.” Lots of people laughed on the notion – or at the least the title – however what Mularkey was speaking about was no… nicely, malarkey. The previous NFL tight finish and offensive coordinator needed an offense during which a number of run ideas can be tied collectively in ways in which would set defenses on edge.
A serious a part of that equation for the Titans again in 2016 was the hassle of a sure rookie operating again out of Alabama named Derrick Henry. And it did work fairly nicely for a very long time.
Quick-forward to just about a decade later, and Mularkey’s Unique Smashmouth imaginative and prescient lives on in two groups that may face off this Sunday within the Baltimore Ravens and the Washington Commanders.
That is as old-school a matchup as you will notice in at present’s NFL. The Ravens lead the league with 211.2 speeding yards per recreation, and the Commanders rank second at 178.4. Per NFL Analysis, it’s the primary time we’ve had two groups face off averaging over 175 yards per recreation in Week 6 of a season or later since Week 6 of the 1978 season, when the New England Patriots (188.8 speeding yards per recreation) took on the Philadelphia Eagles (186). The Patriots gained that recreation, 24-14, and there have been almost as many speeding yards (312) as there have been passing yards (378).
Don’t be stunned if there’s an identical outcome right here.
The Ravens, after all, have the 2024 model of Derrick Henry – who, final week in opposition to the Cincinnati Bengals in a 41-38 additional time win, set his title in historical past with over 10,000 profession speeding yards, and 100 profession speeding touchdowns. Henry additionally at the moment leads the league in speeding yards (572), speeding touchdowns (six, tied with Kyren Williams of the Los Angeles Rams), speeding yards over anticipated (+229), and Speeding EPA amongst operating backs (+17.5). The Ravens have lengthy had their very own variations of Unique Smashmouth, as they’re one of many NFL’s most a number of and efficient speeding groups, and the addition of Henry this previous offseason simply amplifies these concepts.
The Commanders are the sudden power right here. The rationale we needed to qualify Henry as having the very best Speeding EPA amongst operating backs is that the participant with the very best Speeding EPA total is Washington rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels at +23.5. On the season, Daniels has 57 speeding makes an attempt for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns, which places him about in the identical stratosphere as Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson and his 53 rushes for 363 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson ranks eighth within the league in speeding yards no matter place, whereas Daniels ranks sixteenth.
So, that’s one similarity between the 2 groups. One other, and that is the place new Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has performed a serious position, is that it’s not simply in regards to the operating quarterback. Commanders third-year again Brian Robinson already has 325 speeding yards and 5 speeding touchdowns on simply 74 carries, when he gained 733 yards and scored 5 touchdowns on the bottom on 178 carries in all of 2023.
The Commanders even have an underrated pink zone again in veteran Jeremy McNichols, who has three speeding touchdowns on simply 16 carries this season. McNichols’ complete speeding touchdowns from 2017 by means of 2023? One.
One other similarity between the 2 groups is that they don’t lean on one speeding idea to the near-exclusion of all the things else. This isn’t the San Francisco 49ers or New Orleans Saints main with outdoors zone, or the Los Angeles Rams main with bully-ball man-on-man blocking, or the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs main with pulls and counters. Each the Ravens and the Commanders will throw each run idea at you at nearly any time, and that makes it all of the tougher to cease – as a result of it’s all of the tougher to scout.
The Commanders have used a bit extra inside zone than the rest, and it’s particularly robust to defend when Daniels arms the ball off to Robinson, and the protection nonetheless has to regulate the quarterback to maintain him from embarrassing them on the bottom. That was a foundational a part of this 10-yard Robinson run on third-and-1 in opposition to the New York Giants in Week 2.
The issue with defending the @Commanders‘ run recreation is that even while you stack the field on third-and-1 to cease Brian Robinson, you need to hold eyes on Jayden Daniels. Messes up your keys very equally to how Lamar does it for the @Ravens. pic.twitter.com/DO5nJOYB7t
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 8, 2024
And when the Commanders run pull-lead performs – the outdated Vince Lombardi Packer Energy Sweep with a number of linemen on the transfer – it’s simply as possible that you simply’ll get blasted by a Daniels designed run as you’ll by Robinson or McNichols or Austin Ekeler. As soon as once more, the place are your eyes alleged to be? It’s an Unique Smashmouth query with no constant reply. The Arizona Cardinals discovered this out on Daniels’ 9-yard landing run in Week 4.
One distinction between the 2 groups’ speeding assaults is the personnel groupings. The Commanders have run the ball 82 occasions this season out of 11 personnel (one again, one tight finish, three receivers), which is the fifth-most within the NFL. And so they’re actually good at it, with 485 yards and 6 touchdowns in these runs that go to 11. The Ravens have run the ball simply 37 occasions out of 11, third-lowest within the NFL. Not that they’re dangerous at it both, with 221 yards (although no touchdowns) on these carries.
The Ravens favor to hit you with heavier personnel – they lead the league in carries out of twenty-two personnel (two backs, two tight ends, one receiver) with 39 for 255 yards and three touchdowns, and so they rank fourth within the league with 39 carries out of 21 personnel (two backs, one tight finish, and two receivers) for 250 yards and a landing. An inclination to observe is that if the Ravens do run out of 11 personnel, that’s when Jackson is simply as prone to hold it and go – he has 15 speeding makes an attempt out of 11 to Henry’s 16, and Justice Hill’s six.
One huge purpose for Baltimore’s reliance on heavier personnel is the impact of 6’3, 305-pound fullback Patrick Ricard, who is a big power as a blocker on so most of the Ravens’ largest speeding performs this season.
Henry’s 87-yard landing run in opposition to the Buffalo Payments in Week 4 was a primary instance. This was a “Crunch” blocking scheme, which mixes the straight-ahead parts of Wham blocking, and the misleading affect of Lure blocking.
When proper guard Daniel Faalele pulled from his hole to dam one-tech deal with DaQuan Jones on the opposite facet, three-tech deal with Ed Oliver thought he had a straightforward opening to Henry. Right here’s the place the entice got here in – Ricard cruised in from a wing alignment to take Oliver out, which you are able to do when your fullback outweighs the defensive deal with by 20 kilos. These guard pulls had Buffalo’s linebackers headed the mistaken approach, permitting left deal with Ronnie Stanley and heart Tyler Linderbaum the time they wanted to get to the second degree. In the meantime, proper deal with Roger Rosengarten was busy taking defensive finish Greg Rousseau someplace Rousseau didn’t need to go.
As for the Lamar operating issue, that’s as a lot of a factor because it’s all the time been. This 18-yard run in opposition to the Bengals final week had operating again Justice Hill crossing Jackson’s face on the pretend, just about each Bengals defender biting on that, and Jackson headed into open house with Stanley pulling throughout to run interference for him. Left guard Patrick Mekari additionally pulled to seal defensive finish Sam Hubbard, and that was straightforward cash for the Ravens. Additionally, one other play Vince Lombardi would have cherished.
I dunno, Bengals… good pretend and all, however I am most likely retaining one eye on Lamar because the runner right here. Particularly when the LT and LG are pulling that approach. pic.twitter.com/vszK7PbsvS
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 8, 2024
By the best way, this would be the first recreation in professional soccer historical past in Week 6 or later of a season during which each quarterbacks are averaging at the least 200 passing yards per recreation and at the least 50 speeding yards per recreation. Jackson is at 241.2 passing yards per recreation and 72.6 speeding yards per recreation, and Daniels is at 227 passing yards per recreation and 60 speeding yards per recreation
So, in case you’re bored with listening to that the NFL is a passing league, and operating backs don’t matter, and operating quarterbacks are one-dimensional, and all that different newfangled rubbish, Ravens-Commanders would be the recreation for you. Put in your throwbacks, unleash your interior Unique Smashmouth, and benefit from the carnage.
