Following a heart-wrenching 17-10 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game this year, Baltimore Ravens fullback Patrick Ricard has held up his hands for a mistake.
He believes that this mistake may have cost his team a chance at winning the Lombardi Trophy. The powerful blocker, who is famous for his hard-hitting style on the gridiron, confessed that they made a major blunder by going away from their traditional identity as a ground-and-pound offense.
“We only ran the ball six times on running back,” Ricard lamented in a candid chat with former NFL ironman Chris Long.
“You know the general public would agree that like, let’s do what got us there at that point was we run the ball.”
It was a confession that cut deep, as the Ravens had entered the clash against Patrick Mahomes and the high-octane Chiefs with a simple blueprint – pound the rock and control the clock. With Lamar Jackson, the league’s most electric running QB since Michael Vick in his prime, and a bruising offensive line led by Ricard’s punishing blocks, Baltimore had the personnel to make Kansas City’s defense look like Swiss cheese.
But as the game wore on and the Chiefs seized momentum, the Ravens abandoned ship on their bread and butter, something Ricard realized too late. “I didn’t even realize like after the game how little we did run the ball to be honest,” he confessed, shaking his head.
The Ravens’ lone touchdown came on a Jackson-to-Zay Flowers connection – a glimpse of what could have been if they had stuck to the script.
But as the Chiefs took a 17-7 lead into halftime, Baltimore’s game plan seemed to unravel, despite Ricard’s efforts to “open up some holes” for the running game.
“I thought we ran it a little bit here and there, but yeah, if you look back at it, we definitely probably should have,” Ricard admitted his words carrying the weight of a missed opportunity. It was a bitter pill to swallow, especially considering the Ravens’ offense managed just 81 rushing yards on the day, a far cry from their identity as a ground-and-pound unit.
As Baltimore looks ahead to next season, they’ll undoubtedly draw lessons from this missed opportunity, leaning into their identity as a physical, run-first team that can “impose their will” on opponents.
“But you know we like to run the ball here a lot we got just got Derrik Henry which I’m very excited about um yeah D I think there you just have to really learn the nuances of how we block things up and like how physical we have to play because we are we are going to run the ball” said Ricard.
And who knows? With Lamar Jackson leading the charge, the big fellas up front clearing the way, and a renewed commitment to their bread and butter, the Ravens may just find themselves back in the hunt for that elusive Lombardi Trophy like a boxer getting another shot at the title after a hard-fought loss.
