The Baltimore Ravens offense got a much-needed and long-awaited boost in their 16-14 win over their division rival Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 14 with the return of starting running back J.K. Dobbins. The third-year pro spearheaded a resurgent rushing attack that recorded its second-highest total of the season with 215 yards and he led the team with a season-high 120 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown with an average of eight yards per carry.
Good to have @Jkdobbins22 back in action. 😈
It marked his first game back since being activated from injured reserve after having a knee scope to clean up some scar tissue in his surgically repaired knee where he tore his ACL. Ravens veteran defensive end Calais Campbell said he knew Dobbins was a “beast” but admitted that he honestly didn’t expect the explosive performance against their AFC North foe who the team had lost four straight games too over the past two seasons.
“I told him he put the team on his back the way he was running,” Campbell said in his postgame interview on December 11, 2022. “His vision, his stop and start, getting North and South – really making defenders pay every time he touched the ball. He’s been hungry just itching to get on the field. You see the heart and passion he plays with.”
Prior to this impressive outing, Dobbins’ last game action came in Week 6 when he sat out the second half of the team’s loss to the New York Giants after his knee tightened up. His last time reaching the end zone came in Week 4 when he did it twice, once as a runner and the other as a receiver. His four-yard scoring run in the first quarter was his first since then and gave the team a 10-0 lead.
J.K. Dobbins follows up a 44-yard run with a @Ravens TD!
📺: #BALvsPIT on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ t.co/R8oapqsCVs
He missed all of the 2021 season after tearing multiple ligaments in his knee during the final game of the preseason. This game also marked his first game rushing for 100 or more yards since Week 17 of the 2020 season when he ran for a career-high 160 yards on just 13 carries against the Cincinnati Bengals in the regular season finale.
His 44-yard jaunt against the Steelers in his breakout game was the Ravens’ longest offensive play of the game and Dobbins’ longest run since his career-best performance against the Bengals as a rookie where he ripped off a 72-yard run for a touchdown.
WELCOME BACK @Jkdobbins22!!
TUNE IN ON CBS!
As explosive as it was, it was clear that he wasn’t quite all the way back to pre-injury form because he couldn’t break away from the Steelers’ last line of defense. Dobbins himself even acknowledged that he isn’t 100 % just yet but is expecting bigger and better performances as the year goes on and comes to a close.
“It’s still not me all the way yet and I’m going to continue to get better,” Dobbins said in his postgame press conference. “Hopefully those 100-yard games will turn into 200-yard games. I’m going to keep getting healthier.”
Should Dobbins “Be the Focal Point” on Offense Moving Forward?
With starting quarterback Lamar Jackson still considered week-to-week with a knee injury that kept him, the team will need more performances like this from Dobbins in the interim with backup quarterback Tyler Huntley at the helm. The Heavy’s Matt Lombardo thinks he could be asked to “shoulder a significant portion of the workload” on the offensive side of the ball for the Ravens.
“If Sunday is any indication, he looks healthy and explosive enough to be the focal point,” Lombardo wrote in his latest column.
Dobbins was clearly on a pitch count as he wasn’t on the field for the offensive’s final drive when they needed just one more first down to seal the victory. Thankfully, they also have fifth-year pro Gus Edwards who was able to pick 13 yards on a trio of carries to ice the game and close out a strong day of his own in which he finished second on the team in rushing with 66 yards on 13 carries for an average of 5.1 yards per carry.
Here’s the Gus Edwards 6-yard run that sealed the Ravens’ 16-14 win in Pittsburgh. Monster blocks by Pat Ricard, Morgan Moses and Ben Powers.
Everybody in the stadium knew the Ravens were running and they did it anyway to win the game. 💪💪
“The running game is what we needed in this game,” Head Coach John Harbaugh said. “A bunch of running yards in that final drive. Gus too, the last two runs that he had. He came around there like a freight train.”
Ravens O-Lineman Trolls Steelers Postgame on Social Media
One of the blockers that were a key cog in the team’s dominant game on the ground and especially on the game-winning play was Ravens starting left guard, Ben Powers. He made a key kick-out block on a pull to the right that was instrumental in helping Edwards pick up the crucial first down that won the game.
The fourth-year pro took to Instagram to have some light-hearted fun at the expense of the Steelers and their fans following the game when he posted a picture of himself in uniform on the sidelines with a caption that quoted lyrics from the song ‘Renegade’ by the rock band Styx.
Ben Powers trolling after a Ravens dub 🔥🔥🔥🔥
For those who aren’t familiar with the significance of this song in relation to the Steelers, it is a tradition that they play the song in the fourth quarter of their home games to hype up their players and fans. The exact quote that Powers used in his caption was “Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don’t have very long”. When the Ravens come to town, their players have said that it has the same effect on them as well and this video is clear evidence of that.
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Ravens Running Back ‘Put the Team on His Back’ in Return to Lineup