Ravens DE Calais Campbell wins AFC Defensive Player of the Week

For the second straight week, a defender for the Baltimore Ravens was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week.

After rookie inside linebacker had a huge breakout game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week Five, veteran defensive end Calais Campbell had his best game in his first season with the team against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week Six.

The five-time Pro Bowler was an absolute beast on Sunday that terrorized the Eagles offensive line, lived in their backfield, and was a living nightmare for quarterback Carson Wentz from start to finish.

Campbell set the tone for a dominant first half of defense by the Ravens when he sacked Wentz on the very first play from scrimmage of the game and he didn’t stop there.

He finished the game with a team-leading three sacks, four tackles for loss, and quarterback hits. The Ravens were without starting defensive tackles Brandon Williams and Derek Wolfe but that didn’t stop Campbell from being a one-man wrecking crew.

The 13-year veteran was the Ravens’ prized offseason acquisition and has already looked like the steal of the century for what they gave up getting him compared to the tremendous production and leadership that they are consistently getting.

Ravens General Managers acquired Campbell via trade from the Jacksonville Jaguars on the eve of free agency for the mere price of a 2020 fifth-round draft selection.

He had just 6.5 sacks last season in 16 games with the Jaguars after a pair of double-digit sack seasons in the previous two years.

Through the first six games of his first year in Baltimore, he is currently leading the team in sacks (four) and tackles for loss (five). He is also second on the team in quarterback hits (10) and passes deflected (five) as a defensive lineman.

Since 2014, the only player that has recorded more games with three or more sacks than Campbell’s four is five-time All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams who is a three-time Defensive Player of the Year recipient.

Despite towering over the vast majority of offensive linemen that he lines up across from, at 6-foot-8, Campbell is still a master at gaining and exploiting leverage. In football, the low man wins more often than not because they are better positioned to gain and use leverage.

Because of his size, come questioned Campbell’s ability to do that at a high level in the NFL but on Monday, Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh talked about how he has dispelled those doubts since he’s been in the league.

“I give the Cardinals a lot of credit when Calais came out; he was a great player at [the University of] Miami, but that was the question that you had, all the way back then – is he going to be able to maintain leverage on these NFL blockers? Especially in the run game?” Harbaugh said.

“Not only has he maintained leverage – he’s dominated leverage. And he did it again yesterday, numerous times. He’s a very different kind of a player. He’s very unusual. He’s pretty special.”

This now marks the third time this season that a Ravens’ player has won a weekly award. Reigning league MVP Lamar Jackson won AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for his performance against the Cleveland Browns in the season opener.

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