Previously:

• Week 1 Game Scripts
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Weeks 11 and 12

The Baltimore Ravens had the league’s most dynamic offense in 2019, a run-powered super attack led by MVP Lamar Jackson. That same offense has struggled most of the season, and was down on its luck until Baltimore found the cure for the common offense: the Dallas Cowboys defense.

The Ravens became the 2nd team since 1999 to score 30+ points despite picking up just two (or fewer) first downs through the air. The first? The 2000 Bengals in the game where Corey Dillon set the single-game rushing record and Cincinnati rushed for 407 yards in a 31-21 upset over Denver.

In week 13, Baltimore rushed 37 times for 294 yards and 2 touchdowns, including 16 rushing first downs. The Ravens ran it on over 68% of their plays this season, just the fourth time that mark has been hit: the first was when Dalvin Cook had arguably the running back game of the season, when he picked up 226 yards and 4 touchdowns in a win over the Packers. The other two times came last week, by both teams in a game where one team didn’t have a quarterback. The Ravens had three players rush for over 70 yards, the second time that has happened… this season… against Dallas.

The full week 13 Game Scripts, below.

In addition to the Ravens, the Giants, Jets, and Broncos all checked in as run-heavy. For the Giants, they were playing Colt McCoy at quarterback, and fortunately for them, Wayne Gallman (16 carries, 135 yards) and Alfred Morris (8/39/1) were able to carry the offense on a day when the defense was excellent.

For New York’s other team, it was a combination of a rare game where the Jets had a lead plus great performances from Ty Johnson (22/104/1) and Josh Adams (8/74); meanwhile, Sam Darnold had three turnovers on just 26 dropbacks. The Jets don’t have much of an identity, but they tend to run the ball as often as any bad team. The Jets rank 28th in pass attempts and 25th in rush attempts, an odd split for a winless team. The 2017 Browns ranked 9th in pass attempts and 28th in rushing attempts, the 2008 Lions ranked 18th in pass attempts and 31st in rush attempts, and the ’76 Bucs ranked 11th in pass attempts and 25th in rush attempts. Heck, the 1-15 ’96 Jets ranked 1st in pass attempts and 26th in rushing attempts.

For Denver, you might have thought that with Drew Lock back, the Broncos would be excited to put the ball in there air as much as possible. However, facing the Chiefs, the Broncos instead seemed more focused on trying to control the clock: Melvin Gordon played well, and Denver did limit Kansas City to 9 possessions, but the strategy was otherwise unsuccessful.

The most pass-happy team of the week was Pittsburgh, who finished with over 50 dropbacks despite having a positive Game Script. With James Conner out, the Steelers continue to rely a lot on Ben Roethlisberger. He has thrown 150 passes over the last 3 weeks, and they haven’t been all that successful: he is averaging under 6 yards per attempt and under 9 yards per completion during this stretch. Pittsburgh was the rare team to run for under 25 yards for the game despite having a lead through 3 quarters.

Finally, a note about the Buffalo Bills and quarterback Josh Allen. The Bills weren’t super pass-happy, although they were certainly Allen-happy: he finished with 43 pass plays (40 passes, 2 scrambles, 1 sack) in a game the Bills largely controlled. One reason for that is Allen has done an outstanding job completing passes this year: he completed 80% of his passes against the 49ers and has completed 69.9% of his passes in 2020. Earlier this week, a commenter asked where Allen’s huge increase in completion percentage (from 58.8% in 2019) ranked historically. Good question: it would crack the top 10 all-time among players who threw enough pass attempts to qualify for the passing crown in back to back years.

Enjoy!