John Harbaugh believes he has an answer to the Baltimore Ravens' 2013 running woes.
The coach was asked if adding a big, bruising running back to complement Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce will help the Ravens' ground attack after his team struggled in short yardage and red-zone opportunities.
"Yes, I think we need to diversify as much as we can what guys can do," Harbaugh said, per The Baltimore Sun. "I've had a lot of conversations with (general manager) Ozzie (Newsome) and with (assistant general manager) Eric (DeCosta) and our different scouts about that, and our coaches, too. Yes, we want to have as many weapons as we can at our disposal.
"Big backs, fast backs, quick backs, route-running backs that you see around the league, we want to chase all those guys. You can't always get everything you want, but those are things that we could use."
It's odd for Harbaugh to desire a LeGarrette Blount-type back, considering Pierce was viewed as the physical, change-of-pace back to Rice. Also, it's worth nothing that adding a bigger back won't help if the offensive line doesn't improve and open up actual holes to run through.
Regardless of the reasons the Ravens averaged just 3.1 yards per carry in 2013, Harbaugh wants to get back to a ground-and-pound style.
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"Really, we're built -- and we philosophically believe -- in being a rough, tough, physical offense that can run the football," Harbaugh said, per the Carroll County Times. "That's the way we started (in 2008), and that hasn't changed. No matter where you go with the passing game, that has got to be a staple of what we're going to do, and it wasn't this year."
If the Ravens lose offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell to one of the coach-needy teams he's interviewed with, Harbaugh's desire to move back to a physical ground attack might foreshadow the type of coordinator he'd bring in for 2014.
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