J.K. Dobbins is back, but can the Ravens get him going? They’re not running the ball the same way they did a few years back.
A few years back, Baltimore had a crushing running game – on par with what the Eagles were doing in the second half of last year. The Ravens averaged 206 and 192 rushing yards in the 2019 and 2020 season. But they’re more balanced now. They ran for only 146 yards per game last year, and they’re down at 135 this season, even though Lamar Jackson has run for over 100 yards two weeks in a row.
Gone, it seems, are the days of the Ravens lining up and just running the ball down people’s throats. Now it’s more about Jackson making plays as a dual threat.
They’re getting J.K. Dobbins back now. He missed all of the 2021 season and carried 7 times for 23 yards on Sunday in New England. But he doesn’t look likely to become a reliable 1,000-yard back.
And for fantasy purposes, Baltimore’s running backs are also hurt by their limited receiving production. They’re not used much in the passing game. Using PPR scoring, Baltimore’s running backs ranked only 26th in overall production in the 2021 season. (They were 15th in 2020.)
Using PPR scoring, a running back typical needs to score 13 points to finish with top-20 numbers. No Baltimore running back has hit that mark yet this year, and it only happened six times (in 17 games) last season.
Below see all of Baltimore’s games since 2019. In 24 of those 52 games (slightly less than half) the team had a running back with top-20 PPR numbers. Those guys are in bold. In four of those games, the team also had a second back with at least 13 points, and those guys are tagged with black dots.
I don’t see Dobbins as a priority at the position right now. For the time being, I expect he’ll be sharing time with Justice Hill. Hill wasn’t much of a factor in his first three years but on Sunday had his best game as a pro, with a cool 34-yard run that nearly went for a touchdown. He finished with 60 yards on 6 carries – his first game with 40-plus yards.
BALTIMORE'S BEST GAME-BY-GAME RUNNING BACKS (since 2019) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | Opp | Result | Run | Rec | PPR |
2019 | Ingram | at Mia. | W 59-10 | 14-107-2 | 0-0-0 | 22.7 |
2019 | Ingram | Ariz. | W 23-17 | 13-47-0 | 2-30-0 | 9.7 |
2019 | Ingram | at K.C. | L 28-33 | 16-103-3 | 4-32-0 | 35.5 |
2019 | Ingram | Cle. | L 25-40 | 12-71-0 | 1-0-0 | 8.1 |
2019 | Ingram | at Pitt. | W 26-23 | 19-44-1 | 2-5-0 | 12.9 |
2019 | Ingram | Cin. | W 23-17 | 13-52-1 | 2-22-0 | 15.4 |
2019 | Ingram | at Sea. | W 30-16 | 12-46-0 | 1-7-0 | 6.3 |
2019 | Ingram | N.E. | W 37-20 | 15-115-0 | 2-29-0 | 16.4 |
2019 | Ingram | at Cin. | W 49-13 | 9-34-1 | 0-0-0 | 9.4 |
2019 | Ingram | Hou. | W 41-7 | 13-48-0 | 3-37-2 | 23.5 |
2019 | • G.Edwards | Hou. | W 41-7 | 8-112-1 | 0-0-0 | 17.2 |
2019 | Ingram | at LAR | W 45-6 | 15-111-1 | 1-7-1 | 24.8 |
2019 | Ingram | S.F. | W 20-17 | 15-59-0 | 2-3-0 | 8.2 |
2019 | Ingram | at Buff. | W 24-17 | 15-50-0 | 3-29-0 | 10.9 |
2019 | Ingram | NYJ | W 42-21 | 13-76-1 | 1-10-1 | 21.6 |
2019 | Ingram | at Cle. | W 31-15 | 8-55-0 | 2-36-1 | 17.1 |
2019 | • J.Hill | at Cle. | W 31-15 | 3-19-1 | 3-32-0 | 14.1 |
2019 | G.Edwards | Pitt. | W 28-10 | 21-130-0 | 1-2-0 | 14.2 |
2020 | Dobbins | Cle. | W 38-6 | 7-22-2 | 0-0-0 | 14.2 |
2020 | Ingram | at Hou. | W 33-16 | 9-55-1 | 2-22-0 | 15.7 |
2020 | Dobbins | K.C. | L 20-34 | 1-6-0 | 4-38-0 | 8.4 |
2020 | Ingram | at Was. | W 31-17 | 8-34-1 | 1-3-0 | 10.7 |
2020 | Dobbins | Cin. | W 27-3 | 1-34-0 | 3-21-0 | 8.5 |
2020 | G.Edwards | at Phil. | W 30-28 | 14-26-1 | 0-0-0 | 8.6 |
2020 | G.Edwards | Pitt. | L 24-28 | 16-87-1 | 0-0-0 | 14.7 |
2020 | • Dobbins | Pitt. | L 24-28 | 15-113-0 | 1-8-0 | 13.1 |
2020 | G.Edwards | at Ind. | W 24-10 | 11-23-1 | 2-11-0 | 11.4 |
2020 | G.Edwards | at N.E. | L 17-23 | 7-42-0 | 1-31-0 | 8.3 |
2020 | Dobbins | Ten. | L 24-30 | 15-70-1 | 2-15-0 | 16.5 |
2020 | G.Edwards | at Pitt. | L 14-19 | 9-10-1 | 0-0-0 | 7.0 |
2020 | Dobbins | Dall. | W 34-17 | 11-71-1 | 0-0-0 | 13.1 |
2020 | G.Edwards | at Cle. | W 47-42 | 7-49-2 | 1-4-0 | 18.3 |
2020 | Dobbins | Jac. | W 40-14 | 14-64-1 | 1-17-0 | 15.1 |
2020 | G.Edwards | NYG | W 27-13 | 15-85-0 | 2-37-0 | 14.2 |
2020 | • Dobbins | NYG | W 27-13 | 11-77-1 | 0-0-0 | 13.7 |
2020 | Dobbins | at Cin. | W 38-3 | 13-160-2 | 0-0-0 | 28.0 |
2021 | T.Williams | at L.V. | L 27-33 | 9-65-1 | 3-29-0 | 18.4 |
2021 | T.Williams | K.C. | W 36-35 | 13-77-0 | 2-16-0 | 11.3 |
2021 | L.Murray | at Det. | W 19-17 | 7-28-0 | 0-0-0 | 2.8 |
2021 | L.Murray | at Den. | W 23-7 | 18-59-1 | 0-0-0 | 11.9 |
2021 | Freeman | Ind. | W 31-25 | 1-1-0 | 3-34-0 | 6.5 |
2021 | L.Murray | LAC | W 34-6 | 9-44-1 | 2-12-0 | 13.6 |
2021 | Freeman | Cin. | L 17-41 | 4-14-1 | 3-25-0 | 12.9 |
2021 | Freeman | Min. | W 34-31 | 13-79-0 | 2-4-1 | 16.3 |
2021 | Freeman | at Mia. | L 10-22 | 10-35-0 | 3-23-0 | 8.8 |
2021 | Freeman | at Chi. | W 16-13 | 16-49-1 | 6-31-0 | 20.0 |
2021 | Freeman | Cle. | W 16-10 | 16-52-0 | 1-8-0 | 7.0 |
2021 | Freeman | at Pitt. | L 19-20 | 14-52-1 | 5-45-0 | 20.7 |
2021 | Freeman | at Cle. | L 22-24 | 13-64-0 | 5-8-0 | 12.2 |
2021 | L.Murray | G.B. | L 30-31 | 7-48-0 | 1-3-0 | 6.1 |
2021 | Freeman | at Cin. | L 21-41 | 6-17-1 | 2-3-0 | 10.0 |
2021 | Freeman | LAR | L 19-20 | 14-76-0 | 1-1-0 | 8.7 |
2021 | L.Murray | Pitt. | L 13-16 | 16-150-1 | 0-0-0 | 21.0 |
2022 | Drake | at NYJ | W 24-9 | 11-31-0 | 1-15-0 | 5.6 |
2022 | J.Hill | Mia. | L 38-42 | 3-16-0 | 0-0-0 | 1.6 |
2022 | J.Hill | at N.E. | W 37-26 | 6-60-0 | 0-0-0 | 6.0 |
—Ian Allan