Ravens D Give Trent Richardson High Praise

Oct 21, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Cleveland Browns running back Trent Richardson (33) runs with the ball against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE
This week, several members of the Ravens defense named Trent Richardson as the hardest runningback to tackle in the entire league. That is super high praise, especially considering the Ravens held Richardson in check better than almost any runner they have played all season. One player said that Richardson was far from the best, but in terms of being hard to bring down, he is at the top of the list.

Richardson is coming off his best career game last week and the Ravens are coming off arguably the three worst defensive performances in franchise history(back to back to back). Richardson will be a good test for them, but I can’t help but wonder if the Ravens are just trying to make Richardson get a big head and not try and avoid hits, but rather run into defensive players. I am not saying I expect Richardson to be so affected by this that he just goes out looking for contact to prove a point, but I could see a situation where he doesn’t make the extra attempt to be elusive at some point in the game and costs the team yardage. At this point, the Ravens can’t afford to give any team bulletin board material, so complements of their opponents players and game is the right way to go.

As a side note, Ray Rice and Trent Richardson will swap jerseys after the game. Richardson said it was an honor that Rice wanted his jersey because Rice is going to be a Hall of Famer.