Trent Richardson hasn't had the greatest start to his NFL career, but there's no cause for concern just three games into the 2012 season. Thus far, he's had one very solid outing and two that can easily be marked as "needs improvement." Still, his toughest matchup thus far is just ahead of him: Thursday Night Football against the Baltimore Ravens.
The very same Baltimore Ravens that feature a very big and very good linebacker who makes his living on Newton's laws of motion. When a running back is running for positive yardage in Lewis' direction, he makes it a point to push them back in the opposite direction. It's been his job for 15-plus years now and the consensus seems to be that he's not half bad at it.
Richardson isn't shying away from the challenge though, as noted by Ohio.com:
"Why would you stand down for any man? Not to be cocky or talking mess, but if you're an athlete or you're a competitor, why would you stand down for anybody? I know Ray Lewis going to come at me, and I'm going to come right back at him."
For the Browns, their biggest job will actually be getting Richardson to Lewis. One of the biggest keys they've talked about thus far is having less action at the line of scrimmage and getting Richardson into that second level. While they'd like to seal off Lewis whenever possible, most of the time the best thing they can do is ensure Richardson only has to deal with one player. It just so happens that Lewis is likely to be that one player and that he's really good. It will be an early test for the young rookie, but he certainly seems pumped for the challenge.