Baltimore Ravens: Who is Lorenzo Taliaferro?

I’m remiss to write about the Baltimore Ravens so soon after the debacle that was the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal. Football is obviously far secondary in matters of importance surrounding this situation, one that was a gross miscarriage of justice and a total and abject failure by law enforcement, the Ravens, and the National Football League.

However, the Ravens take on the Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday night and somebody is going to have to run the ball for them. Without Rice, Baltimore is without have a clear-cut starter at running back. Bernard Pierce fumbled away his chance in week one, and found himself spending most the game on the bench, while journeyman Justin Forsett made the most of his opportunity, rushing 11 times for 70 yards and a touchdown. Pierce is unplayable if he can’t hold onto the ball, while Forsett isn’t big enough to carry the load rushing. There’s a great chance here for rookie fourth rounder Lorenzo Taliaferro to grab the starting job and run with it.

Taliaferro broke out his senior year at Costal Carolina, rushing for over 1700 yards and 29 touchdowns in 15 games. He was named Big South Offensive Player of the Year, broke 11 school records and set five conference rushing marks. At 6’0, 226 pounds, Taliaferro is a bruiser who was impressive breaking tackles in the preseason. He doesn’t have home run speed – his 40 yard dash time was 4.58 – but his big frame makes him a viable candidate to bear a heavier workload, if needed.

Taliaferro is the only Ravens running back to have been drafted by new offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, who has a long history of developing no-name runners into thousand yard rushers. He was hired as Denver’s offensive coordinator in 1996, the same year they drafted Terrell Davis in the 6th round. During his tenure, which ended after the 2005 season, Denver got thousand yard seasons out of Davis, Orlando Gary, Mike Anderson, Clinton Portis, and Reuben Droughns. More recently, as head coach in Houston, Kubiak got a thousand yard season out of third rounder Steve Slaton and turned undrafted free agent Arian Foster into a superstar.

Kubiak is notorious for his zone blocking schemes, a scheme Taliaferro ran in college, though out of the spread rather than a more conventional under center offense. Here’s what Ravens Director of College Scouting Joe Horitz had to say about Taliaferro after the Ravens took him with the 138th pick of the draft:

"“In terms of style, he is probably more of a downhill style like Bernard, more of a one-cut runner. Ray is going to be a little bit more elusive. In terms of his hands, he can get out there and catch with those guys.”"

One-cut running is what the zone blocking scheme is all about. Runners are expected to be patient, wait for the blocks to be set up then make one cut and get downhill. Taliaferro seems tailor made to fit in Kubiak’s schemes the same way Foster flourished in Houston.

As the dust settles from the Rice scandal, Taliaferro is the hot sleeper pick to take over the starting job. Though of course, he’s not really a sleeper if everyone is in on him. Given that he’s a rookie, and that he had zero carries last week, he’ll likely be worked in slowly. Looking back on recent Kubiak history, Foster played a season sitting behind Steve Slaton, among others, before he broke out in 2010.

The one certainty about Baltimore’s backfield seems to be that Forsett is going to have a consistent role as a third down guy, and maybe more. He played under Kubiak in Houston, did a good job last week, and his catching ability adds versatility to a Ravens offense that needs creativity and playmakers.

If Taliaferro is to step in and make an impact this season, it would seemingly be at the expense of Pierce. It makes sense for the Ravens to stick with Pierce in the short-term to see what he can do. He was promising in his rookie year, averaging 4.9 yards per carry, before struggling mightily last year for a Baltimore offense that was dead last in rushing DVOA. Pierce once looked like the clear-cut heir apparent to Rice, but these days is underwhelming. He’s only 24 and Kubiak has done well with similar talent, but his days might be numbered. He’s already in the doghouse for fumbling and continued ball security issues will surely plant him on the bench for the foreseeable future.

The Ravens last season were the second most boring offense in the league behind the Jets. They weren’t the worst, but they were brutal to watch. Their running game consisted of Rice and Pierce running straight into blockers for 2 yard gains and Flacco dropping back 40 times a game. I’m still amazed that Jim Caldwell flipped that atrocity of an offense into a head coaching gig in Detroit. This year’s squad is better. Steve Smith had a good game last week, Dennis Pitta is back, and Owen Daniels can still be productive. They’re an impact runner away from being a pretty good offense. Lorenzo Taliaferro might eventually be that guy. Given Kubiak’s history of developing runners, he probably will be.