The Baltimore Ravens host the Buffalo Bills at M&T Bank Stadium Sunday in Week 1 of the 2018 NFL season. On paper, the matchup is shaping up to be a defensive stalemate by two teams boasting strong defenses but lackluster offenses.

Under Marty Mornhinweg, Baltimore will look to use their ground game in order to get their offense rolling. That attack starts with running back Alex Collins – an underrated ball-carrier who finished as Pro Football Focus’ sixth-most elusive back last year (51.9% elusive rating). Collins carried the rock 212 times for 973 yards and six touchdowns in his first season with the Ravens. He registered 27 runs of 10+ yards and averaged a whopping 2.98 yards after contact.

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Collins is a decisive, physical runner, and that is why he fits Baltimore’s run game so well. While Mornhinweg is officially the offensive coordinator, it’s former Buffalo Bills offensive play-caller, Greg Roman that designs the run game.  So it is characterized as being multiple and indeed it is. The Ravens run all types of run concepts but none are prettier than their trap run ame.

The trap series, specifically the inside trap and similar wham trap run plays are very familiar to Bills fans. We saw it for several years under Roman and Anthony Lynn. These power concepts played a huge factor in Buffalo’s offense boasting the NFL’s top rushing attack in back-to-back seasons.

Let’s jump into the film room to take a look at what makes the Ravens run game so dangerous and what the Bills will need to do in order to stymie the trap run game.