The Baltimore Ravens have faced – and contained – a number of big running backs so far this season.

But the New England Patriots (10-2) will present a slightly different challenge on Monday night.

There was Oakland’s 6-foot-3 Latavius Murray (19 yards in a 28-27 Raiders win), 6-1 Le’Veon Bell of the Steelers (32 yards in a 21-14 Ravens win) and 6-1 Jeremy Hill of the Bengals (21 yards in a 19-14 Ravens win).

But at 250 pounds, LeGarrette Blount will be the heaviest running back the Ravens (7-5) will have faced this season.

“A 250-pound running back is pretty tough to tackle,” quarterback Tom Brady said. “Obviously when he gets away from people they never really catch him. So he’s got great speed and agility.

“They really don’t know how to tackle him. He jumped over guys. He’s run over guys. And I think he makes great decisions when he’s in the open field. So he’s done a lot of great things.”

The top-ranked rushing defense has not faced a tailback with that much girth since, well, Blount in New England’s 35-31 win on Jan. 10, 2015 in an AFC divisional playoff game.

The Ravens say they are not overly concerned about the size of Blount. The defense that allows the fewest rush yards and is tied for second with the Patriots for fewest points allowed at 17.2 per game (Seattle allows a league best 16.2 per game) is ready.

“We’ve played against bigger backs, and he’s just like every other back,” inside linebacker C.J. Mosley said. “A couple more hats might have to be on him, but we’ve just got to wrap him up and gang-tackle him.”

Added defensive end Lawrence Guy: “He’s a good running back. We have to eliminate the run with our packages and … play as a group.”

Blount, who turned 30 on Monday, has scored an NFL-best 13 rushing touchdowns and needs just one more to tie Curtis Martin for the franchise record. He also is just 43 yards shy of his second 1,000-yard campaign (first the New England) and is on pace to finish with a career-high 1,276 yards.

Blount’s “a big, physical, downhill, tough runner,” said Ravens Coach John Harbaugh.

Blount’s workload – he’s already carried the ball a career-high 230 times, exceeding his 201 when he ran for 1,007 yards as a rookie with Tampa Bay in 2010 – doesn’t figure to decrease any as the temperature drops.

“He’s had some big games this time of year,” said Brady. “It’s tougher if you get wet weather or cold weather, it certainly gets harder to tackle and he’s hard to tackle, anyway, being that he’s 250 pounds. It’s tough to bring him down.”

Mosley said the defense got a taste of that type of tailback in a 38-6 rout of the Miami Dolphins. Although the 6-0, 229-pound Jay Ajayi was limited to 61 yards on 12 carries, he did show off some shifty moves to avoid tackles and the kind of strength to power through stops.

“It kind of showed where we were because we definitely missed some tackles, especially in that first quarter,” Mosley said, referring to a pair of runs for 14 and 19 yards in the opening quarter. “I missed some, (inside linebacker) Zach (Orr) missed some, I saw the DBs had a few missed tackles. It just puts another emphasis this week on wrapping up.”

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