Upon a December Tuesday evening that concluded Week 13, the Baltimore Ravens rushing attack reaffirmed just how formidable it can be just as the Dallas Cowboys run defense provided a reminder of the many improvements it must make.
When the proverbial dust settled on the Ravens' 34-17 final, Baltimore had run for 294 yards on 37 plays, gaining 7.9 yards per tote as the Cowboys struggled for answers and tackles all the same.
After the onslaught, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy rounded up the carnage, because nothing much went Dallas' way, so why not?
“[Baltimore] is a unique offense, very physical offensive line. ... 300 yards is obviously astronomical," McCarthy said, via The Athletic's Jon Machota. "The key to the game was stopping the run and we definitely didn’t get that done tonight.”
Entering Tuesday, the Cowboys defense was last in the NFC East and last in the league in run defense. Neither of those changed.
Ravens running back Gus Edwards had a game-high 101 yards, Lamar Jackson had 94 yards and rookie J.K. Dobbins added 71. Baltimore turned in just the second NFL game over the last two seasons in which a team has had three players rush for 70-plus yards, per NFL Research. The other was the Cleveland Browns in Week 4 of this year -- against the Cowboys.
With the game rescheduled from its original Thursday slot, the Cowboys had ample time to prepare for a short-handed Ravens offense. It made no matter.
“It’s disappointing. We had a lot of time going into this game," McCarthy said. "This was a great opportunity tonight and we obviously didn’t take advantage of it.”
No, instead the Ravens had an astronomical rushing performance and the Cowboys simply had another frustrating one.
“Frankly, we need to play better. The fourth quarter of the season is upon us," McCarthy said. "Our goal is to finish strong.”
The Ravens ran over the Cowboys on Tuesday and time is most certainly running out on Dallas to show any kind of promise to build off of as it nears a close to its unsatisfying campaign.