Here's this week's GMC Playbook question from Marshall Faulk:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Being Professional Grade is all about Craftsmanship. <a href="https://twitter.com/SBNation">@SBNation</a>: How has your team shown it so far? <a href="http://t.co/oPvb3yMpbI">http://t.co/oPvb3yMpbI</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GMCPlaybook?src=hash">#GMCPlaybook</a></p>— Marshall Faulk (@marshallfaulk) <a href="https://twitter.com/marshallfaulk/status/514868150786347011">September 24, 2014</a></blockquote>
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It took a brief moment for me to think of the most well-crafted aspect of the Ravens thus far this season.
Then it hit me — the trenches. Entering Week 4, the Ravens ranked eighth in rushing offense and eighth in rushing defense. Despite not having a flashy running back, the Ravens have been able to run for 137 yards per game. Even with Bernard Pierce out last week, the Ravens got 91 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries from rookie Lorenzo Taliaferro.
The defensive front seven has done a great job stopping the run. Pittsburgh ranks first in the NFL in rushing yards with 163.3 per game (a lot of that due to last week's game against Carolina). Baltimore stopped the Steelers cold when they tried running the ball, limiting them to 99 yards on the ground.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh prefers this old-school approach, so this is definitely a sigh of relief to get this kind of play up front on both sides of the ball — especially considering how things went a season ago.
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