Ravens running back Ray Rice has had so little room to run this season that he didn’t even average 3.5 yards a carry in a single game all year, until Week 11 in Chicago.
But that Week 11 game, which Baltimore lost in overtime, was a big one for Rice: He had 25 carries for 131 yards, his highest total this season by almost 50 yards and an average of 5.2 yards a carry that more than doubled his average of 2.5 yards a carry heading into this week. Rice’s longest run on Sunday, 47 yards, was more than three times as long as his longest run of the season heading into the game, 14 yards. said the Ravens’ offensive line opened such big holes for him that he wasn’t accustomed to having so much space to run.
“I kind of made a joke with the guys on the offensive line that I didn’t know what to do with a hole that big,” Rice said, via ESPN.com.
Unfortunately for Chicago, the Bears’ defense has been allowing big holes all season. (The hole Packers running back James Starks ran through might have been the biggest I’ve ever seen.) The Ravens’ line won’t have such an easy time opening holes for Rice this week, against a very good Jets run defense.