Can The Eagles Run On The Ravens Today?

The Ravens pretty thoroughly whipped the Bengals last week. They beat up 2nd year QB Andy Dalton and forced him into 2 turnovers, one of which was a pick 6. The pretty much had their way with Cincy's defense. But if there was one phase of the game where Baltimore did not dominate, it was the run game.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis ran for 91 yards and a TD while backup Cedric Peerman added another 22 yards on 3 carries. After watching the tape, LeSean McCoy thinks there might be some opportunities.

"The Bengals actually did a good job just running the ball, setting up on blocks," he said this week. "I think there will be some lanes to run in. They do a good job of just bending a little bit, but they don't break. They're a tough defense... The name ‘Baltimore Ravens defense' had been going for a long time and I think that rumor is kind of true as far as aggressive, fast, and the defense is tight. It'll be a good game."

Having said that, the Ravens were the #2 rushing defense in the league last year. They may not have been great last week in that dept, but as Marty Mornhinweg cautions, that was just one game.

"Very difficult to evaluate a football team in first games," said Marty. "You need three or four games typically. Cincinnati is a heck of a running football team. They do some things there very, very well. I would not evaluate them on one game and I think they are an excellent run and pass football team. There is no question about that."

Of course, as is always the question with the Eagles, it may not be "can" as much as "will" they run the ball today...