Raven Country

Bill Belichick Praises Ravens Unsung Heroes

Bill Belichick was impressed by the Baltimore Ravens after their win over the Buffalo Bills.

Nathaniel Marrero

Dec 31, 2023; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens fullback Patrick Ricard (42) reacts after scoring a fourth quarter touchdown against the Miami Dolphins at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
Dec 31, 2023; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens fullback Patrick Ricard (42) reacts after scoring a fourth quarter touchdown against the Miami Dolphins at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
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Few compliments hold more weight in the football world than one from Bill Belichick, and he was full of them for the Baltimore Ravens.

Belichick praised the Ravens after their dominant 35-10 win over the Buffalo Bills. Among them was how the Ravens have managed to find their groove in the last two weeks after they've won back-to-back wins following a 0-2 start to the season.

"I think they definitely found their stride here the last couple of weeks," Belichick said on the Pat McAfee show on ESPN. "Coming off last year's game with the Chiefs, not running the ball enough [or] running game getting established, it's so much easier to do that when you play from ahead [and] getting off to a good start like they did last night. And of course, Derrick Henry, once he gets rolling, he's tough to stop."

Henry was part of the engine that made the Baltimore offense go in its 25-point victory over the Bills. He had 24 carries for 199 yards and a touchdown that came on an 87-yard run, the longest rushing touchdown in Ravens history. Lamar Jackson also had a rushing touchdown against Buffalo. As a team, the Ravens ran for over 250 yards and had at least two touchdowns on the ground in consecutive weeks.

One correlation to the Ravens' success on the ground has been fullback Patrick Ricard's increased playing time in the last two weeks. After playing under 30 percent of the team's snaps in Week 1 and 2, he's played over 50 percent of the offensive snaps in Week 3 and 4.

The eight-time Super Bowl-winning coach lauded Ricard's impact on the game and noted the stress he puts on opposing defenses when he's in the game.

"It's sort of hard to set your defense because you don't know where he's going to be," Belichick said "He builds that extra gap. And obviously, he's a big guy when he gets matched up on the linebackers, which is usually who he's blocking. And so that extra gap that gets created in those two back sets is tough. You don't know where it's going to be.

The Ravens defense was also firing on all cylinders, holding Bills quarterback Josh Allen to completing just 16 of 29 passes for 180 yards and he lost a fumble when he was stripped by outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy. Van Noy had two sacks for the third straight game and he tallied three quarterback hits.

Van Noy played for Belichick on the New England Patriots from 2016 to 2020.

"Kyle is a real instinctive player," Belichick said. "He's a little bit of a combination of defensive and outside linebacker. [He] can also play a little bit inside linebacker, but he's very aware, instinctive and crafty out there

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Nathaniel Marrero
NATHANIEL MARRERO

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