National Football League

Ravens find winning balance between pass and run

Published Oct. 11, 2010 7:15 p.m. ET

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Not only have the Baltimore Ravens achieved an extraordinary balance between the pass and the run, they've managed to evenly distribute the ball to all their offensive stars.

Baltimore (4-1) has won three straight and stands alone atop the AFC North. The defense, as usual, deserves plenty of credit. But so does an attack that amassed 415 yards and 31 points Sunday in a rout of the Denver Broncos.

The Ravens finished with 233 yards rushing and Joe Flacco passed for 196 yards. Four different players ran the ball - including Flacco - and seven players had at least one reception.

It was a reflection of the season as a whole. In five games, Baltimore has attempted 171 passes and run the ball 159 times.

''Run or pass? Who cares?'' coach John Harbaugh said Monday. ''I think the idea is to do whatever you need to do from one week to the next.''

Or one half to the next. After the Ravens used Flacco's arm to take a 17-0 lead against Denver, Baltimore ran the ball on 29 of 37 plays after halftime. Ray Rice got the brunt of the work, carrying 17 times for 85 yards in the second half alone.

''I like to call in a well-balanced attack,'' Rice said. ''Last year, we were a physical running team. The thing about this season so far is that when we needed to pass the pass, we passed it. (Sunday), when we needed to run the ball, we ran it.''

Willis McGahee chipped in with 10 carries for 67 yards, and Flacco and Le'Ron McClain ran five times apiece.

The passing game was even more diverse. Rice led the way with four catches, followed by Derrick Mason with three and T.J. Houshmandzadeh and McClain with two apiece. Anquan Boldin, the team's leading receiver, had only one reception for eight yards and the Ravens won by two touchdowns anyway.

With all their success, don't try to pigeonhole the Ravens as running team or a passing team.

Asked to define the team's identity, Harbaugh said, ''We do have an identity: We're rough, we're tough, we're disciplined, we're smart. We play hard. We're good decision makers.''

Unselfish, too.

''Stats don't mean anything,'' Rice said. ''Our overall goal is to win. I'm just happy to be part of a team that is all about one thing. One play leads to the next, and we all need each other. If I have to take less stats and we're winning, so be it.''

Houshmandzadeh seems to be getting on board with the plan after grousing a bit during the week about being overlooked as a target.

''T.J., man, he's going to tell me he's open every time,'' Flacco said. ''I was surprised one time he came to me and said, 'I think I might have been covered. I just wanted to let you know, good job in whatever you did.' I was like, 'Really?'''

With Boldin, Houshmandzadeh, Mason, Rice and tight end Todd Heap as targets, no could blame Flacco for wanting to throw the ball. With Rice, McGahee and the stocky McClain in the backfield, he might be just as tempted to hand it off.

There's no telling which direction the Ravens will go Sunday against the New England Patriots.

''I'm not sure why everybody would want to say, 'Hey, your identity is you're a running team.' That means you're one-dimensional,'' Harbaugh said. ''We don't want to be one-dimensional. We want to have guys we can hand it to, guys we can throw it to.

''Joe made some runs, which is good to see. I think we do have some guys that can make plays, an offensive line that's starting to play really well. It gives us a chance to be tough to defend, and that's really the goal.''

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