Jeff Wolfson

Cody: "We played a hell of a game up front"

by Dan Kolko View Comments

In the preseason opener against the Panthers, the Ravens allowed 142 yards rushing,

Tonight, they allowed 25.

That wasn't by accident.

"We had a focus on stopping the run tonight, and we did much better than the last game," defensive coordinator Greg Mattison said.

Rookie defensive tackle Terrence Cody chose to phrase it a little differently.

"We played a hell of a game up front as a group," Cody said. "The linebackers played well, but especially as a defensive line, we played a hell of a game up front."

While the Ravens allowed 365 yards passing tonight and were gashed a handful of times over the middle of the field, they clamped down up front.

All-in-all, it was a solid bounce-back effort for the Ravens' front-seven, at least in that one aspect.

"How many yards did they have rushing? I think the stats will prove it itself," linebacker Jameel McClain said. "It definitely was a focus and something for us to do as the linebackers and the D-line. The D-line did a great job, and we just played off of them and played downhill ball."

The Ravens posted five tackles for loss and made it clear from the get-go that the Redskins weren't going to have much success on the ground.

Larry Johnson started at running back for the Redskins, but posted just four rushing yards on eight carries. Those behind him didn't fare much better, even against the Ravens' second-team defense.

"I think we did well," defensive tackle Haloti Ngata said. "They got a couple yards here and there, but we stayed strong as a front, D-line, linebacker wise. We wanted to make sure that they knew they weren't going to run on us. I think we did pretty well. Even our second-team did well in the second half, and it was a pretty good thing to see."

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