Who Powered Through? Todd Heap
by Bruce Raffel on Dec 1, 2010 2:11 PM EST
in Who Powered Through
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PrintContrary to popular belief, the expected demise of the 30 year old Baltimore Ravens tight end, Todd Heap, have been greatly exaggerated. Heap is in the midst of his tenth NFL season and was expected to be challenged for playing time by both of the rookie tight ends that the team drafted in the third and fourth rounds of the 2010 NFL Draft.
However, along the way, no one told Heap that he was done for his career and is actually having what many people are saying is a possible Pro Bowl-type of season. Through eleven games, Heap has 37 receptions for 546 yards and five touchdowns. He is averaging 14.8 yards per catch and to really understand his value, his 37 catches have resulted in 29 first downs. He may not reach his season high for receptions (75 in 2005, but will come close to setting a personal high in yardage (855 in 2005) and touchdowns (7 in 2005).
Critics speak about durability, which is deceiving, as Heap has played all 16 games for the past two seasons after only playing six in 2007. In fact, it was mentioned that Todd played more snaps in 2009 than any other tight end in the entire league. Some people think his falloff in production from that stellar 2005 season is indicative of his career coming to an end but it may have been more due to his blocking abilities in pass protection being needed more than sending him out to run receiving routes.
Either way, Heap is far from done and those rookies will continue to have to find other ways to get on the field, as Todd is not planning to go anywhere anytime soon, other than downfield for more receptions. Obviously, the Ravens Todd Heap has "powered through" the adversity!
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I have to admit it..
Heap has been VERY impressive this year!
A man is innocent untill proven guilty...Even if it's Ben Roethlisberger!
'I rather have a German division in front of me than a French division behind me'..General George Patton
" I don't care if he has two horns and a tail, as long as he is anti-communist"..General Douglas MacArthur..
"The way to end our dependence on foreign oil is to keep our tires properly inflated"....B. Hussein Obama
"Government is not the solution to our problems, it is the cause of them" Ronald Wilson Reagan..40th President of the United States
Do you really think so?
The thought of that kind of scares me.
I thought I had an appetite for destruction. Turns out, all I really wanted was a club sandwich.
by StuckInUtah on Dec 1, 2010 4:51 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I don’t think so. Barring injury he still has a one maybe two. Let the youngsters blossom instead of being thrown in. Neither rookie has shown they can be a consistent threat in every dimension of being a tight end.
by Raven_all_day on Dec 1, 2010 5:35 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I highly doubt that. I get the sense that we want to keep Heap a Raven for life. He will most likely resign with us for less than what teams offer simply because he is that type of person and is a Raven for life. We get 2 more good years out of him, breed Dickson into the beast we all know he can be, and then induct Heap into our ring of honor.
yeah
Heap is clearly worthy of a 3-year contract offer from us. He’s one of the best TE’s in football once again. You don’t just let a guy like that walk because you have some young guys behind him.
"Cam, we're not going to have any issues because we're going to be winning."
--Joe Flacco
"Just win baby. Yeah, I stole that."
--Jon Gruden
by jackmca on Dec 2, 2010 3:40 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
On Second Look
Heap is probably one of the most “complete” TE’s to play in that he can run patterns well, block and catch. About the only weak area in his game is his “running” (I put it in quotes because what he does after the catch is an embarrassment to runners the world over) after the catch.
Most great TE’s were known for their outstanding route running and receiver skills -essentially another WR, albeit bigger and stronger or as devastating blockers. It is rare that you have a TE that is pretty balanced like Heap is between the two.
Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Heap fan.
I’m surprised nobody else has brought this up, but this is Heap’s best supporting cast in the receiving department. His production this year has much to due with defences paying more attention to our other targets.
I think he still has a few good years left in the tank, but he is not the same beast he was in his prime. In his prime who else did we have? I can only think of three and a half names off the top of my head.
He carried our passing offense for years. Many fans liked to forget that when he was hurt, and put him off as an injury prone has-been. If he stayed healthier he would be putting up some very competitive career numbers as a tightend.
I could care less what his stats look like at the end of the season or his career. Heap deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest Ravens of all time. His winning touchdown reception in Dallas this upcoming February will cement that in all our minds.
Watching Heap run downfield
On last week’s 65 yard TD catch and run showednhe still has a bit left in the tank worthy ofnanfew more years in purple.
aka 'Rexx'
Not sure if I’m the only one in this camp, but don’t any of you guys think it’s time for him to retire for his own personal health? Guy has taken one too many hits over the middle and should probably consider hanging those cleats up for his own sake. The Buffalo game was a pretty clear signal that his body will definitely not hold up over the long run if he continues to play the game.
Talented Mr. Heap
The talent has always been there. Todd has been plagued with injuries over the years. When he is healthy, he is as good as any TE in the NFL.
He has been healthy
And has not missed a game sine the 2007 season, playing all 16 in both 2008 & 2009.
aka 'Rexx'
exactly
we just ran the ball more, and when we passed we generally looked to the outside. All of this added up to more blocking responsibilities for Heap which don’t show up in the stats.
Now that Flacco is really coming around, we see the Heap that many thought was a thing of the past.
"Cam, we're not going to have any issues because we're going to be winning."
--Joe Flacco
"Just win baby. Yeah, I stole that."
--Jon Gruden
Heap may very well have had more blocking responsibilities. But the fact that we ran the ball more had nothing to do with Heap’s lower numbers. Some of Heap’s bigger seasons were when Jamal Lewis was the one of the scariest runningbacks in the league. Each time we went to pass our best and most frequent target was Heap. Defences caught onto to that and Heap’s body was constantly recovering from hits where he was expected to catch passes from some pretty clueless quarterbacks.
different OCman
I’m just saying he was kept in to block more, whether due to passing plays OR running plays. pre-cameron it wasn’t like that, we used the TE a lot in our offense.
Also, Kyle Boller was the KING of laying a receiver out to dry.
"Cam, we're not going to have any issues because we're going to be winning."
--Joe Flacco
"Just win baby. Yeah, I stole that."
--Jon Gruden
So what's different in 2010?
I’d say the receiving core.
Oh Heap…Too bad Billick didn’t use his downfield abilities way more often. He spent his career relegated to blocking until McNair and Flacco set him free. Is it too late for Heap. Will he finish a Raven the way he started..5 yard curls and token blocking. The flashes of downfield ability are sad in a way. Cam hasn’t given our 2 rookie TE’s much of a look to give us any idea whats in the stable.
what are you talking about?
you just talked about how good Heap is and in the same breath wondered why our rookie TEs dont see much time. I think you answered your own question, bud.
"Cam, we're not going to have any issues because we're going to be winning."
--Joe Flacco
"Just win baby. Yeah, I stole that."
--Jon Gruden
what? you can still get the youngsters playing time. especially if your even thinking about going two te’s against pitt. they have played some but …not enough to get a reading on them.
we have a pro-bowl caliber performance from Heap
and we’re trying to get guys like Stallworth and Housh worked into the gameplan, all while balancing the run with Rice and McGahee. Sorry man the rooks take a back seat to that.
THIS game we will probably see a lot more Pitta since the 2-TE set seems like such an obvious move. But we’ve been spreading the field more this year, so that’s why we haven’t seen the rookies.
You don’t just work rookies into your gameplan to see what they can do when you’re winning with your vets. Rookies can wait, they’re rookies.
"Cam, we're not going to have any issues because we're going to be winning."
--Joe Flacco
"Just win baby. Yeah, I stole that."
--Jon Gruden
Exactly
Sometimes I think people think you get like 200 plays on offense during a game. You are lucky if you get sixty-five. The Ravens are averaging 29 rushes a game (not counting Flacco scrambles, but am counting QB sneaks) and 33 pass attempts (averaging 21 completions).
How do you divide those plays up? Twenty carries to Ray, 6-7 to Willis with the occasional one or two to McClain and end-arounds…? 33 targets- throw, what, 9 or 10 each to Boldin and Mason -that is almost twenty. Target Heap, what five times? Another five or so dump offs to Rice. 1 or 2 to the other receivers and 1 or 2 to McClain. Does not leave much “work” left for the rookies -who do you cut into?
by vlad755 on Dec 3, 2010 12:27 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
You don’t just work rookies into your gameplan to see what they can do when you’re winning with your vets. Rookies can wait, they’re rookies.
Well said. raven is just used to seeing at least 1 rookie step it up big for us, which we can’t fault him for. You look at the draft classes for Ozzie, and usually we get 1 of those guys to play big time for us. However, we have never had a team stacked as this one in our 15 years.
And considering his injury, Cody has recovered well and looked good these past few weeks. he needs to use his weight and leverage better, but I like what I’ve seen from him.
"Cam, we're not going to have any issues because we're going to be winning."
--Joe Flacco
"Just win baby. Yeah, I stole that."
--Jon Gruden
Will they please give Reed II a little playing time. He’s our best returner and I’m sick of Ed Reed fielding punts inside the 8!!!
i thought he was back there for that exact purpose: to fair catch deep in territory, and know when not to. mind, i’m not saying he’s very good at it, but hopefully he’ll exercise better judgment than a rookie.
Put your heel on the 10 yard line
and if you have to take a step back, let the ball GO!
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Dec 2, 2010 11:20 PM EST up reply actions
not sure what eds purpose is on punt returns. seems he’s an injury waiting to happen on returns. that wouldn’t be good.
yeah
im not sure what the point is. Plenty of rookies can understand the concept of a fair catch and when not to return a punt. It’s not molecular biology we’re talking about here.
"Cam, we're not going to have any issues because we're going to be winning."
--Joe Flacco
"Just win baby. Yeah, I stole that."
--Jon Gruden
just reminds me of quadry ismail getting hurt when we were already short at receiver.
and webb for that matter.
Yeah, agree
neither Ed nor Webb should be returning kicks or punts – EVER!
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Dec 2, 2010 11:21 PM EST up reply actions
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