The NFL’s running game has had a bit of a renaissance early this season thanks in part to a dynamic duo in Baltimore off to a historic start
Ravens’ dynamic duo of Henry and Jackson help lead a rushing renaissance in the NFLBy JOSH DUBOWAP Pro Football WriterThe Associated Press
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The running game has had a bit of a renaissance early this season thanks in part to a dynamic duo in Baltimore off to a historic start.
NFL teams are rushing at the highest rate through six weeks since 2008, with teams averaging a record-high 4.5 yards per carry and the most yards rushing per game at this point in a season in 40 years.
The average of 121.7 yards rushing per game for teams is the highest through six weeks in a non-replacement player season since 1984, when it was at 124.6.
The Ravens are playing a big part in that thanks to the predictable success of pairing perhaps the NFL’s best rushing quarterback with the most prolific running back of his generation.
Derrick Henry has 704 yards rushing and nine total touchdowns in his first six games since signing with Baltimore, while Lamar Jackson has run for 403 yards.
Only one other team since at least 1948 has had one player rush for at least 400 yards and another for at least 600 yards in the first six games of a season. Joe Perry (501) and J.D. Smith (604) did it for San Francisco in 1959.
Baltimore’s 1,232 yards rushing this season are the fourth most through six games since 1980, trailing the 2006 Falcons (1,333), the 1984 Bears (1,330) and the 1980 Lions (1,299).
The Ravens have been the NFL’s top rushing team every since Jackson took over as starter in 2018 and have two of the three longest streaks in NFL history of rushing for at least 100 yards. Baltimore just did it for the 39th straight game. The Ravens are tied for the longest streak with 43 from 2018-21. The Steelers also did that from 1974-77.
Jackson is averaging 254.8 yards passing per game and 67.2 on the ground and is on pace to join Michael Vick as the only players in history to average at least 250 yards passing and at least 50 rushing for a season. Vick did it in 2010 for Philadelphia.
Jackson moved past Cam Newton into second place in career yards rushing for a quarterback last week with 5,661. He needs 449 more to break Vick’s record of 6,109.
Traded away
The Davante Adams era in Las Vegas ended less than halfway through his third season with some individual highs but no team success when he was traded to the New York Jets.
That’s not a new situation for the Raiders, who have traded away a first-round pick for a proven veteran four times in the past 20 seasons without making a single playoff appearance with the acquisitions.
There was the 2005 trade for Randy Moss, the 2009 deal for Richard Seymour, the 2011 one for Carson Palmer and now the trade that sent first- and second-round picks to Green Bay in 2022 when Las Vegas got Adams.
According to trade records on Pro Football Reference, there have been 35 trades that featured a first-round pick being swapped for a veteran in the last 20 seasons. Of those, only eight of the deals didn’t lead to a single playoff berth with the acquisition still on the roster, with the Raiders accounting for four of them.
The others were Tampa Bay acquiring Darrelle Revis in 2013, Indianapolis trading for Carson Wentz in 2021, Arizona getting Marquise Brown in 2022 and Denver trading for Russell Wilson in 2022.
The latest deal reunites Adams with Aaron Rodgers, his quarterback in Green Bay for eight seasons. Adams has caught 615 passes from Rodgers for 7,517 yards and 68 touchdowns — the most in all three categories between any combination of active players.
Home not-so-sweet home
Dallas owner Jerry Jones celebrated his 82nd birthday by watching his team endure its most lopsided home loss in his 36 seasons in charge of the Cowboys.
The 47-9 drubbing by Detroit was the biggest loss at home for the Cowboys since they fell 43-3 to Minnesota on Nov. 13, 1988, just months before Jones bought the team.
The struggles at home have been a problem for Dallas ever since the Cowboys saw their 16-game home winning streak snapped with a 48-32 loss in the wild-card round to Green Bay last season.
Dallas has dropped three home games to open this season, losing 44-19 to New Orleans in Week 2 and 28-25 to Baltimore in Week 3. The 167 points allowed by the Cowboys in their last four home games are the fourth most ever in a span of four home games, according to Sportradar. Only the 1948 Giants (177 points) and 1972-73 Oilers (176) allowed more.
Dallas isn’t the only NFC East team struggling at home. The New York Giants have lost all three home games this season and Daniel Jones dropped to 0-5 with nine turnovers, no TDs and a 57.9 passer rating over the last two seasons at MetLife Stadium following a 17-7 loss to Cincinnati on Sunday. There are 20 players who have thrown a TD pass at MetLife more recently than Jones has.
Falling off
The New Orleans Saints have followed a historic start to the season with a nearly unprecedented collapse. New Orleans opened the season by beating Carolina by 37 points and Dallas by 25 — becoming the 13th team in the Super Bowl era to win each of the first two games by at least 24 points.
The Saints have followed that up with four straight losses, scoring 76 points the past four weeks after having 91 the first two games. Only two other teams in NFL history won the first two games by at least 20 points and then lost four straight, with Dallas doing it in 1965 and the Cleveland Indians in 1921.
New Orleans reached a new low this past week in a 51-27 loss to Tampa Bay when the Saints scored 27 points in the second quarter and none in the other three. They allowed the Buccaneers to become the fifth team in NFL history to gain at least 300 yards through the air and 275 on the ground.
The loss dropped coach Dennis Allen’s career winning percentage to .342 — fifth worst out of 148 coaches with at least 75 games.
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