Ravens veteran RB praised for taking on enormous challenge in Week 1

Justice Hill got major props for what he accomplished in the final minute of the season opener.

Had the Baltimore Ravens completed their furious fourth quarter comeback attempt in their 2024 regular season-opening loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, one of the unsung heroes worthy of receiving a game ball would’ve been veteran running back Justice Hill.

On the final two plays of the game, he found himself blocking five-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Chris Jones as Lamar Jackson dropped back to pass from the 10-yard line. The 6-foot-6 and 310 pounder outweighs Hill by 115 pounds and seven inches taller, but that didn’t stop him from rising to the challenge to the astonishment of many.

Jackson was able to get the ball out of his hands both times including the almost game-winner if it weren’t for third-year tight end Isaiah Likely barely stepping a toe out of the back of the end zone as time expired.

When the players returned to work on Monday, head coach John Harbaugh made sure to highlight those two specific plays in front of the entire team and was effusive in his praise of Hill and how he stepped up to buy his quarterback more time to make a potential game-winning play.

“I thought Justice [Hill] was amazing,” Harbaugh said. “I give him all the credit in the world.”

On those plays, the Ravens he shared that the Ravens wanted to deploy a base six-man protection and fan their offensive tackles, but weren’t able to relay the change to everyone with all the crowd noise.

“Maybe that’s a communication thing on offense that we would have liked to have had,” Harbaugh said. “In that protection, Justice made the adjustment. He was expecting the tackle to fan, probably, but then the tackle didn’t fan, and there he was with No. 95 [Chris Jones] right in front of him, and I thought he did a pretty darn good job, given the circumstances. So, that’s part of the communication. When you’re up there, and you’re looking for blitz or no blitz and those kinds of things, and you check your protections to that kind of stuff, you have to work through those things.”

Hill has developed into one of the better third-down backs in the league with all he brings to the table as pass catcher out of the backfield but perhaps even more importantly as a pass protector. He is capable of stonewalling blitzing linebackers in their tracks as well stymieing gigantic defensive lineman long enough for his quarterback to get the ball off or escape the pocket.

In the passing game as a receiver, Hill is a viable and sometimes even dangerous weapon that can turn checkdowns into first downs and more once he gets into open space. Against the Chiefs he was utilized on such plays as well as in the screen game and finished with the third-most receiving yards (52) and targets (eight), tied for the second-most receptions (six) and picked up three total first downs between his catches and lone rushing attempt.

Hill is coming off a career year in which he posted 593 combined scrimmage yards and four total touchdowns. While his presence on the field in Week 1 signaled when the Ravens were more inclined to pass the ball, he could still provide a nice change of pace option in the running game to four-time Pro Bowl Derrick Henry who Harbaugh was also pleased with and said will having varying volumes of usage throughout the season.

“The formula is all the guys together,” Harbaugh said. “It’s not just the one guy. We didn’t bring Derrick [Henry] in here to be the guy that gets the ball 30 times a game. He’s done that before. That’s really not the plan. The plan is Derrick, Lamar, Mark [Andrews], Isaiah [Likely], Zay [Flowers], ‘Bate’ [Rashod Bateman and] ‘Nelly’ [Nelson Agholor]. That’s kind of the plan in this offense going forward, so I think that evaluation will be best made over the course of the season.

“I’m very confident, there are going to be games where Derrick is going to go for 100-plus [yards] or more, and you’re going to be asking me, ‘Why does Zay only have 2 catches?’ That’s probably going to happen during the course of the season, and that’s going to be good for us.”