Filling WR Marcus Smith's Spot
by Mr MaLoR on Aug 16, 2009 12:02 AM EDT
54 comments
Thursday night, second year WR Marcus Smith came off the field limping after making a very impressive tackle on a special teams play. At the time, most of us were probably unsure of how serious the injury was, just thinking that it was a sprain or that the player landed on it the wrong way. However, after the game Coach Harbaugh stated that it is a pretty serious injury and further reports have given clues that Smith could be missing the whole season if his ACL is as messed up as we think.
Now, where does this injury leave us? Baltimore was very excited to see a guy like Smith step up and improve what many around the league think is one of the weakest WR groups in the NFL. He was having a great start to the pre-season and looked to be a guy we could count on as our 4th or even 3rd WR at times. Here are a few possibilities.
Stick With Our Current Group: With Smith's injury, this leaves Kelly Washington and Demtrius Williams fighting for the 3rd and 4th spots. This injury moves guys like Justin Harper up the depth chart just slightly and may even give guys like Jason Foster or Eron Riley a chance.
Acquire Yet Another Free Agent: There is still some talent out there in the Free Agent pool. We have debated for a while now of the guys out there that could possibly come in here and help us out. Here are a few of the Free Agent WR that seem to stand out.
What is the best decision for the Ravens at the moment?
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Matt Jones is the only WR there with talent and effort that isn’t ancient, and he’s a huge character concern.
I don’t see how the Ravens losing Marcus Smith is going to make them want to pick up a veteran more. He wasn’t exactly lighting it up in training camp, and was probably our 5th or 6th receiver.
by math_geek on Aug 16, 2009 12:23 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Not so sure about that
Coaches have been some what impressed with Marcus since OTA’s and it seemed like at times up until now that he was making a push for the 4th spot. The first 3 spots are set with Mason, Clayton, and Williams.
But I believe that before Smith’s injury, the 4th and 5th spots were not set in stone. Smith, Washington and Harper were definitely going to have to battle throughout these 4 games and each was going to have to stand out above the other.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
by Mr MaLoR on Aug 16, 2009 12:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Marcus did well in OTA’s, but was seriously outshone in training camp by Kelley Washington and Justin Harper. He still was having major dropsie issues, although clearly Justin Harper didn’t have a great game on Thursday, with 4 drops.
Basically, Marcus Smith was not so essential that losing him will be the difference between the Ravens signing a veteran and not signing. They could just as easily keep someone like Yamon Figurs or Jayson Foster.
by math_geek on Aug 16, 2009 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
They’ll wind up keeping Figurs over Foster.
Figurs made some plays on special teams last year and had that nice touchdown in Houston too. He’s a decent contributor on special teams and can always return kicks.
by BAL_Hawk on Aug 16, 2009 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm beginning to doubt that
What Figurs offers is already on the roster in Chris Carr, Lardarius Webb and a bevy of other receivers with bigger upsides, such as Jayson Foster, whom the ocaches really seem to like!
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Aug 16, 2009 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Agreed… Marcus Smith was a bigger loss to our special teams since he was one of our best gunners. I was very excited about Smith before the season began, but it’s clear that he has not been stepping up as a receiver in training camp. I would say that even Harper was ahead of him on the receiver depth chart.
As far as replacing him on special teams, the team can sign a receiver, corner, safety… or even a linebacker to replace him if they need too. I believe that they will simply carry another linebacker or corner (positions where we have excellent depth) to replace Smith on special teams.
As far as replacing him as a receiver, I believe that we will now keep Yamon Figurs on the roster. Yamon stepped up on Thursday and could replace the depth that we lost with Smith. Furthermore, Figurs is a decent gunner.
by BAL_Hawk on Aug 16, 2009 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yamon stepped up and made 1 long catch that was not even in bounds. He did not get both feet down and the refs did not call it. His 8 yard punt return was spectacular as well.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
by Mr MaLoR on Aug 16, 2009 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yamon was in bounds and the announcers blew that play… his “second foot” was on the ground when he caught the ball.
by math_geek on Aug 16, 2009 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Poor Marcus Smith
worked so hard in the off season and transformed his body into a physical specimum that it couldn’t translate into performance. He was so muscular and solid that he pulled up lame whenever he tried to go at it. He either became dehydrated or pulled muscles whenever he tried to show what he could do. Disappointing to say the least, as he was one of my favorites but now might be gone for the season, if not surely for a long enough time to allow others to shine and make it difficult for him to contribute at all, much less retain a future on the team.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Aug 16, 2009 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Jeff George
" Of course Steroids should be allowed! I wanna see 700 foot home runs and 90 yard field goals! I litterally want to see someone's d**k get shoved in the dirt!"
by BradyQuinnisBeast on Aug 16, 2009 12:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
(as a Jags fan) I would recommened to
Try out Matt Jones. He knows this is his very last shot-if he blew it-he is done.
Porter was a cancer in the locker room. As I heard, he arrived every week a new car to training. And he produced nothing.
Reggie Williams is much-much bigger concern in my eyes then Jones.
Matt Jones starting to looked good last year. made key catches in 3rd downs, was the best receiver (I know it says not much..) for the Jags.
If the ravens looking for someone i would pick him for a try!
Life without knowledge is death in disguise
by Zoltan from Budapest on Aug 16, 2009 4:02 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Thanks man
In all honesty, most of us here are all for bringing in Matt Jones to play. He is an amazing athlete and I think his troubled part of his life is behind him.
Jones would be a great fit and I would be extremely satisfied with out group if we got him.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
by Mr MaLoR on Aug 16, 2009 5:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
You’re just hoping to have him on the Madden update.
by BAL_Hawk on Aug 16, 2009 2:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I would kill people with him on my madden team
by jackmca on Aug 17, 2009 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Jackmca, are you upset by how much EA Sports hates the Ravens? Did you go to the Madden Moments yet? There are 3 madden moments that have the Ravens losing, but none that have them winning. How is a team that went to the AFCC not get a madden moment. The Dallas game was the regular season game of the year!
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
by Mr MaLoR on Aug 17, 2009 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
the only reason I wasn't upset is that I've come to expect this.
But hey its not the end of the world. Not having any respect just means you have to earn it. We’ll see how the midseason roster updates go. I’d give you 2:1 odds that Ray Rice’ rating is upped to AT LEAST the 80s by midseason.
Also, McGahee’s speed rating is a 78. Huh? What Willis have they been watching? He may have had a down year but it wasn’t for a lack of straight-line speed. They should have dropped his overall to 82 but kept his speed at like 90-ish. Rice definitely got jipped and there’s no way he’s a sub-80, but hey, whatever.
And how is Haloti Ngata anything less than a 90? Absurd. Oh well, I’m used to it by now.
by jackmca on Aug 17, 2009 5:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Other things
Those little 3 block ratings they have for each team. The Ravens have a 1 block for coaching, but teams like the Jets and Falcons have 3 blocks for coaching? How is Mike Smith that much better than Harbaugh? And since we lose Rex Ryan, we drop that much, but the Jets have a perfect coaching because they got Rex Ryan who has never been a head coach in this league?
Also, the Steelers have 3 blocks for running game, they were ranked like 27th last year in rushing. We have 2 blocks for running game and we were 4th!
I think its such bull shit. Tom Brady misses a whole season with a serious knee injury and comes back to being a 99 rating. Dawan Landry misses 14 games with a neck injury that was not AS serious as people made it out to be, and he drops from an 88 to a 71.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
by Mr MaLoR on Aug 17, 2009 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
yeah, pretty much
I noticed the block ratings. A rookie coach goes 11-5 with a previously 5-11 team and gets a one out of three? Riiiiiiiight…
But other teams got shafted too. I think they really did their scouting on the cheap this year. Marques Colston has an 81 speed rating? That’s like Barack Obama having an Economics degree (oooooooooooooooooo!!!!!), just kidding I’ll stop the politics there…
Other things I noticed:
They still didn’t fix the TD challenge issue. You can’t challenge the spot of a ball if you think it wasn’t quite a TD.
Flacco’s accuracy rating is a 74. Really? A guy can complete 60% of his passes and have a 74 for accuracy? News to me.
There’s other stuff too. I haven’t played it enough to get it all down yet. But at least its a good game. They’ll give the ravens their respect by midseason when everyone realizes we’re the shit.
by jackmca on Aug 17, 2009 5:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Also
Its funny, we don’t have a madden moment where we win, but the Lions have a madden moment where you are supposed to lose. It was more important to EA Sports to showcase a team that went 0-16 than to showcase a team that went from 5-11 to 11-5 and the AFCC.
I can think of at least 3 madden moments for us to win. Suggs int for a td at Clev. Willis and LeRon shutting down Texas Stadium. FLACCO leading the Ravens on the game winning drive in the AFC Divisional game.
I mean, they had a madden moment for the Titans beating us in week 5. You are supposed to be the titans and stop the Ravens from scoring. In the description it says, “Stop the Ravens offense from scoring and put the rookie QB in his place!”
When I saw this, I was about to send back my game I was so pissed.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
by Mr MaLoR on Aug 17, 2009 5:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Madden has comsumed my life
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
by Mr MaLoR on Aug 17, 2009 4:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
You know how much I like Marcus
but he was so far behind, he might have been in danger of being either released or put on the Practice3 Squad when cutdowns came. His loss only makes J. Harp a more solid lock and opens the door for someone like Jayson Foster, who the coaches really like from what I’ve heard out at camp.
The bigger issue will be how Clayton recovers and when. If he is out for an extended time thru the regular season, then I expect K-Wash to step it up big time. That could have us looking at D-Mase, K-Wash, D-Will and J-Harp as the top four.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Aug 16, 2009 10:44 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Why did Mike Duffy
call M. Smith the most improved Raven season-to-season? I doubt he was in danger of being released.
by Ravens Boner on Aug 16, 2009 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
J Harp looks shaky
from his game time effort. Sometimes it’s as if the ball was on fire and he didn’t dare touch it. Unless he solve his inconsistent hand problem, I doubt he will be the fourth receiver.
by Tassadar on Aug 16, 2009 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
his problem is that he catches with his body.
and guys who do that… SUCK. If he can’t naturally catch with his hands by now, he probably just doesn’t have the natural hand-eye coordination to do it. He’s an unpolished athlete with very raw skills. He might make the team now that Smith is gonzo, but in my mind that guy couldn’t catch a buzz if I gave him a beer. Sucks.
by jackmca on Aug 17, 2009 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah
they were discussing that on NST this morning. It’s a LOFT related issue, we’ve seen it before with other Ravens wide-out’s, now they’ve finally applied a medical definition to it..
by adh on Aug 17, 2009 9:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
didn't know that
but i do know that catching happens with your hands, not your shoulder pads.
by jackmca on Aug 18, 2009 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yup
It’s an acronym for the latin phrase:
Lackus Of Fuking Talentus
Apparently the Ancient Romans coined the phrase back in the days of the gladiators. I think the literal translation is “he who is eaten by lions” or something…
by adh on Aug 18, 2009 10:25 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Kelley Washington,
in my mind, will get a lot more touches than people think. He who can catch the ball gets thrown to, and he can catch. He might not dazzle with the athleticism that everyone wants, but it’s no use having a fast WR if he can’t get his hands wrapped around that ball.
by jackmca on Aug 18, 2009 10:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yup
I think he will be in the top 3 of our WR’s in catches by seasons end.
by DT711 on Aug 18, 2009 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Lol
Mason 83 catches. Clayton 41 catches. Washington 22 catches. Top 3!
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
by Mr MaLoR on Aug 18, 2009 12:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
my projection:
Mason has 60+ catches, Clayton has 50+ catches, and Washington has 30+ catches. I think Flacco will spread the ball around much better this year. So much of the lopsidedness in last year’s numbers stems from the fact that Flacco was only going through his full reads quickly and efficiently against weak defenses towards the end of the season. In a lot of games, he would just wait for Mason to break free and improvise his way into getting open (a lot of those completions happened AFTER Mason finished running his route).
by jackmca on Aug 18, 2009 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Washington will have his games where he gets 3-5 catches for some good yards then he will have games where he gets nothing. Definitely will happen. But he will indeed be the 3rd WR by week 6 when D-Will gets hurt like usual.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
by Mr MaLoR on Aug 18, 2009 1:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
yep
yeah i don’t project Washington to have a pro-bowl season, but I do think he’ll figure prominently into our offense, especially on 3rd down. He’ll get his looks because he runs for the open spaces and goes up strong for catches—catches that he actually brings in.
by jackmca on Aug 19, 2009 9:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The Lions eating someone?
Jeez, they should focus on winning a game first.
You have to hate losing more than you love winning.
by Mr MaLoR on Aug 18, 2009 12:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Marcus Smith
Would not have been released due to his value on special teams.
by DT711 on Aug 16, 2009 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
harper, williams, washington, foster could all get hurt and replaced by 4 joe shmoes and we’d be back on track in 2 weeks.
by raven on Aug 16, 2009 12:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
NFW
Tbhey all represent a multimmtude of options and can combined, play just about every role we need a receiver to play. Other than make defenses afraid – just right now.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Aug 16, 2009 3:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yaman Figurs
Will be starting come week 20
Ravens...who else?
by The Instigator on Aug 16, 2009 5:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Yamon Figurs
will be the MVP of Uber Bowl -2.3 in the Not Fucking Happening Football League.
by jackmca on Aug 17, 2009 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
lol
no man. he’s a beast
Ravens...who else?
by The Instigator on Aug 18, 2009 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Better not be...
…because according to my math, that would be the AFC Championship Game, in week 20, after 17 weeks of the regular season and the third playoff weekend, which is the Conference Championships!
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Aug 17, 2009 2:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Yes your right Raffel
We are going back to the AFC championship game against our friends the Steelers, and Yaman Figurs will emerge as our play maker. We will then win thanks to Figurs!
It figures, Figurs would emerge in a clutch game like that.
Ravens...who else?
by The Instigator on Aug 18, 2009 5:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
We have been talking WR's for too many years!!!! Haven't we?
Does Lelie have anything left? Where has he even been lately, I thought he used to be a pretty good receiver? But, with the list of names provided I agree with most and think that Matt Jones would be an excellent fit. Granted he is still learning to be a receiver after being a QB in college, but he has the size, and I thought he ran like a 4.3 or 4.4 in the combine. He is a big guy that can be a legitimate down the field threat and also be that big target for the quick slant. I’m not familiar with the Harper and Foster, but one thing that we know is we can never have too many receivers. Also we should be able to get Matt Jones for a bargain price considering the issues he is just coming off of. Just a thought. Great job guys!!!!
by Sam Mancinotti on Aug 17, 2009 3:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
lelie just got signed by KC
And I’d take Matt Jones but it seems clear that Ozzie wouldn’t.
by jackmca on Aug 17, 2009 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Lelie is terrible
All speed no hands and Oz won’t take a look at Jones, so we are going to go to war with what we got. I think we will spread the ball around and will be fine.
by DT711 on Aug 17, 2009 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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