EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The New York Giants have run for 200 yards or more in two straight games. The Baltimore Ravens have allowed just over 65 yards per game on the ground.
So there will be some interesting collisions when the NFL's best rushing offense meets the best rushing defense at the Meadowlands on Sunday. More specifically, when Brandon Jacobs, the Giants' 264-pound battering ram runs into Ray Lewis, who prides himself on giving up nothing.
Jacobs, who knows Lewis well from a joint sponsorship deal, has the same attitude.
“He comes downhill. I come downhill. And whatever happens happens,” says the man who is fourth in the NFL in yards rushing and first in average at 5.3 per carry as part of a three-back rotation that also includes Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw.
In their own way, both these teams are surprising.
Yes, the Giants are the defending Super Bowl champs. But few expected them to be 8-1 at this point in the season, two games up in the difficult NFC East. For one thing, their run to the Super Bowl was generally regarded as the product of a good team getting on a hot streak; for another, their division, supposedly led by Dallas, was comprised of four good teams that would knock each other off.
The Ravens, who like New York have won four straight, already have surpassed the five wins they posted last year, and at 6-3 have moved into a tie with Pittsburgh for the lead in the AFC North.
The most important new elements are coach John Harbaugh and rookie quarterback Joe Flacco, who stepped into a job he wasn't supposed to get until next season. Troy Smith, who was supposed to start, got sick after the team's second exhibition game and missed a month. Kyle Boller injured a shoulder, opening the way for Flacco.
Flacco, drafted 18th overall last April after playing at Division I-AA Delaware, has gotten incrementally better as the season has progressed. He's gone from one touchdown pass and seven interceptions as the Ravens started 2-3 to six TD passes and no interceptions in four straight victories, the last a 41-13 win at Houston last week.
Having a young quarterback with a bright future is a huge advance for the Ravens, who since arriving in Baltimore from Cleveland in 1996 always have been a team where defense came first.
Quarterback was an afterthought, even in 2000, when a team that beat these same Giants in the Super Bowl had a record-setting defense that required Trent Dilfer simply to avoid major errors.
The Giants represent the biggest challenge for the Ravens since they lost 13-10 on Oct. 5 to Tennessee, currently the NFL's only unbeaten team.
Jacobs, who knows Lewis well from a joint sponsorship deal, has the same attitude.
“He comes downhill. I come downhill. And whatever happens happens,” says the man who is fourth in the NFL in yards rushing and first in average at 5.3 per carry as part of a three-back rotation that also includes Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw.
In their own way, both these teams are surprising.
Yes, the Giants are the defending Super Bowl champs. But few expected them to be 8-1 at this point in the season, two games up in the difficult NFC East. For one thing, their run to the Super Bowl was generally regarded as the product of a good team getting on a hot streak; for another, their division, supposedly led by Dallas, was comprised of four good teams that would knock each other off.
The Ravens, who like New York have won four straight, already have surpassed the five wins they posted last year, and at 6-3 have moved into a tie with Pittsburgh for the lead in the AFC North.
The most important new elements are coach John Harbaugh and rookie quarterback Joe Flacco, who stepped into a job he wasn't supposed to get until next season. Troy Smith, who was supposed to start, got sick after the team's second exhibition game and missed a month. Kyle Boller injured a shoulder, opening the way for Flacco.
Flacco, drafted 18th overall last April after playing at Division I-AA Delaware, has gotten incrementally better as the season has progressed. He's gone from one touchdown pass and seven interceptions as the Ravens started 2-3 to six TD passes and no interceptions in four straight victories, the last a 41-13 win at Houston last week.
Having a young quarterback with a bright future is a huge advance for the Ravens, who since arriving in Baltimore from Cleveland in 1996 always have been a team where defense came first.
Quarterback was an afterthought, even in 2000, when a team that beat these same Giants in the Super Bowl had a record-setting defense that required Trent Dilfer simply to avoid major errors.
The Giants represent the biggest challenge for the Ravens since they lost 13-10 on Oct. 5 to Tennessee, currently the NFL's only unbeaten team.
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