Again in 2016, then-Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Mularkey mentioned that the offense he needed to run was referred to as “Unique Smashmouth.” Lots of people laughed on the notion – or at the very least the identify – however what Mularkey was speaking about was no… effectively, malarkey. The previous NFL tight finish and offensive coordinator needed an offense wherein a number of run ideas could be tied collectively in ways in which would set defenses on edge.
A significant 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 effectively 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 as we speak’s NFL. The Ravens lead the league with 211.2 dashing yards per sport, 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 sport in Week 6 of a season or later since Week 6 of the 1978 season, when the New England Patriots (188.8 dashing yards per sport) took on the Philadelphia Eagles (186). The Patriots received that sport, 24-14, and there have been practically as many dashing yards (312) as there have been passing yards (378).
Don’t be stunned if there’s an analogous consequence right here.
The Ravens, in fact, have the 2024 model of Derrick Henry – who, final week in opposition to the Cincinnati Bengals in a 41-38 time beyond regulation win, set his identify in historical past with over 10,000 profession dashing yards, and 100 profession dashing touchdowns. Henry additionally at present leads the league in dashing yards (572), dashing touchdowns (six, tied with Kyren Williams of the Los Angeles Rams), dashing 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 dashing groups, and the addition of Henry this previous offseason simply amplifies these concepts.
The Commanders are the surprising pressure right here. The explanation 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 dashing 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 dashing 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 significant position, is that it’s not simply concerning the operating quarterback. Commanders third-year again Brian Robinson already has 325 dashing yards and 5 dashing 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 crimson zone again in veteran Jeremy McNichols, who has three dashing touchdowns on simply 16 carries this season. McNichols’ whole dashing touchdowns from 2017 by means of 2023? One.
One other similarity between the 2 groups is that they don’t lean on one dashing idea to the near-exclusion of every little thing else. This isn’t the San Francisco 49ers or New Orleans Saints main with exterior 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 anything, and it’s particularly powerful to defend when Daniels fingers the ball off to Robinson, and the protection nonetheless has to control 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 sport is that even if you stack the field on third-and-1 to cease Brian Robinson, you must 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 previous 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 purported 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’ dashing assaults is the personnel groupings. The Commanders have run the ball 82 instances this season out of 11 personnel (one again, one tight finish, three receivers), which is the fifth-most within the NFL. They usually’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 instances out of 11, third-lowest within the NFL. Not that they’re unhealthy 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, they usually 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. A bent to look at 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 dashing makes an attempt out of 11 to Henry’s 16, and Justice Hill’s six.
One large purpose for Baltimore’s reliance on heavier personnel is the impact of 6’3, 305-pound fullback Patrick Ricard, who is a large pressure as a blocker on so lots of the Ravens’ greatest dashing performs this season.
Henry’s 87-yard landing run in opposition to the Buffalo Payments in Week 4 was a first-rate instance. This was a “Crunch” blocking scheme, which mixes the straight-ahead parts of Wham blocking, and the misleading affect of Entice blocking.
When proper guard Daniel Faalele pulled from his hole to dam one-tech sort out DaQuan Jones on the opposite facet, three-tech sort out Ed Oliver thought he had a simple 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 sort out by 20 kilos. These guard pulls had Buffalo’s linebackers headed the flawed manner, permitting left sort out Ronnie Stanley and middle Tyler Linderbaum the time they wanted to get to the second degree. In the meantime, proper sort out 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 in all probability holding one eye on Lamar because the runner right here. Particularly when the LT and LG are pulling that manner. pic.twitter.com/vszK7PbsvS
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 8, 2024
By the way in which, this would be the first sport in professional soccer historical past in Week 6 or later of a season wherein each quarterbacks are averaging at the very least 200 passing yards per sport and at the very least 50 dashing yards per sport. Jackson is at 241.2 passing yards per sport and 72.6 dashing yards per sport, and Daniels is at 227 passing yards per sport and 60 dashing yards per sport
So, when 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 sport for you. Put in your throwbacks, unleash your internal Unique Smashmouth, and benefit from the carnage.
