Bigger impact
Ravens search for third-down weapon because of incomplete checkdown list Injuries behind him, Urban standing tall along Ravens defensive line
The Ravens squeezed as much as they could out of the running back position last week in the season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, and they’re going to need a similar effort against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
And they’re going to have to do it for the rest of the season.
The Ravens have two solid running backs in starter Terrance West and backup Buck Allen, but neither is Le’Veon Bell or Ezekiel Elliott. Still, they combined for 151 yards on 40 carries in the Ravens’ 20-0 win against Cincinnati on Sunday.
The Ravens also had 32-year-old Danny Woodhead in the running back mix as the third-down specialist. But an injured hamstring suffered in the first half landed him on injured reserve Thursday, so the soonest he could return would be Week 11. The Ravens replaced him with Jeremy Langford on the 53-man roster.
A limited position became even more restricted because the Ravens no longer have one of their top pass-receiving weapons in the backfield.
On the surface it might not appear that Woodhead’s absence could Home opener Sunday, 1 p.m. TV: Chs. 13, 9 Radio: 97.9 FM, 1090 AM
Brent Urban is 6 feet 7, 300 pounds, has an 80-plus-inch wingspan and can touch his toes comfortably. Because leverage is power, and power is easily weaponized by someone of Urban’s size, offensive linemen battling the Ravens’ starting defensive end these days often face a logistical problem.
It’s tough to move Urban because of his frame. It’s tough to get underneath Urban because he puts his pads just as low. And it’s tough to redirect Urban somewhere when those arms are delivering flashbacks.
“You feel like that little kid who’s trying to punch your dad, but he’s just got his hand on your head and you’re just swinging away,” defensive tackle Brandon Williams said week. “He’s got that kind of length to use. They can’t get hands on him, and then as soon as they try to reach, he knocks them down and gets to the play.”
Ahead of Sunday’s home game versus the Cleveland Browns, against whom Urban delivered maybe the highlight of his career — a block of a last-second, would-be go-ahead field goal that Will Hill returned for a touchdown in a November 2015 win — the Ravens are happy to have the 26-year-old getting to the play. More than that, he’s making them, too.
That’s something new. For the first few years of his career, the 2014
fourth-round draft pick was closer to the kid with flailing fists than the parent too far away to feel their impact.
In 2014, his rookie season, he tore his ACL before he could even play in a preseason game. Almost a year later, he tore his biceps during training camp — a “funny” injury, he called it Wednesday. It wasn’t so limiting that he couldn’t benchpress, for instance, and the time off was perhaps fortuitous. It gave him the chance to get right physically.
He’d missed time as a senior at Virginia with an ankle injury that required surgery. His ACL tear in his right knee had come just a few years after tearing the ligament in his left knee. His legs might have needed a vacation from football.
“It was nice to not have a lower-body injury [in 2015] where I could kind of build that base back up that I kind of lost my first year,” said Urban, who returned later that season to post 11 tackles, a sack and that “Monday Night Football” field-goal block in six games.
Last year, the stats didn’t surge — 10 tackles, two sacks — but he felt better knowing he had made it through a full season as healthy as could be. Some days, he came in for as few as five defensive snaps, and on others, as many as 19, but at least he had played in all 16 games.
“I think last year was kind of really when the wheels were in motion,” Urban said.
They kept chugging along in March, when starting defensive end Lawrence Guy signed a four-year free-agent deal with the New England Patriots. Next to Williams and nose tackle Michael Pierce, there was now a spot in the Ravens’ 3-4 defense open for a five-technique lineman, responsible for lining up over an offensive tackle and manning the gaps on either side.
The Ravens already had Bronson Kaufusi, a third-round pick in 2016 with similar size to Urban (6-6, 285). In April, they drafted Chris Wormley (6-5, 300) No. 74 overall. But there was maybe no more revealing preseason than Urban’s; he had a sack and forced two fumbles in the opener against the Washington Redskins and finished the four games tied for seventh on the team in tackles and maybe first in eyes opened.
“One of my biggest concerns coming into this year was our five-technique end,” defensive coordinator Dean Pees said Thursday. Guy “wasn’t flashy, but he always got the job done for us. So I was really concerned, because that’s a big spot for us. Brent has certainly filled his shoes. I’m very pleased with where he is right now.”
The more the coaches see of a healthy Urban, the more they like. The more Urban sees, the more there is to scrutinize.
That was one problem early in his career. Coach John Harbaugh called Urban “a good self-critic,” someone who “looks with a critical eye with how he plays.” For his first two years, there was little individualized game tape Urban could even assess. It was as if he were studying for a test from a textbook with Ravens defensive end Brent Urban, left, celebrating with cornerback Brandon Carr, played his first full season last year after tearing his ACL in 2014 as a rookie. pages ripped out. It used to be that he might think: “Oh, I was only in so many plays; it’s kind of hard to tell what I’m working with.”
But now? “Nowthere’s such a large body of work where I’m like, ‘OK, this is where I’m at, this is what I need to do,’ ” he said.
His personal archives are mounting, and at an unforeseen rate. Urban played a career-high 50 snaps against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, more than Pierce (38), more than Williams (34). After Week 1, he is on pace to tie his 2016 snap count (150) by Week 3.
And there is a lot to like, even after a one-tackle game Sunday. Harbaugh stressed that Urban still must become “a little more dominant in everything he does,” but on Sunday, according to an analysis by Russell Street Report, all five Ravens sacks and all five Bengals turnovers occurred when Urban was in the game.
On outside linebacker Terrell Suggs’ third-quarter strip-sack, with Cincinnati 6 yards from the end zone, quarterback Andy Dalton took a shotgun snap and looked over right guard T.J. Johnson, whom Urban was pushing back as if he were an office chair. As Dalton wound up to pass, Urban threw his right hand up in the passing lane.
“I think it kind of messes with them in some sort of way where you make them hesitate or hold on to the ball for that extra second,” Urban said, “like I think he did on that extra play.”
Dalton pulled back, relocating and reloading. Then he saw the ball leave his hand before intended, having been dislodged by Suggs.
“He’s come a long way, to be honest,” Pierce, who recovered the fumble, said of Urban.
“It’s crazy,” Williams said. “The dude’s powerful. You see him — tall, lanky — you think he’s just whatever. You think he doesn’t got much. As soon as he gets on the field, you’re like, ‘[Shoot], who is this guy?’ ”
“I think last year was kind of really when the wheels were in motion.” Brent Urban, Ravens defensive end