The Baltimore Ravens will take the field Thursday night in the midst of controversy as they begin their tenure without Ray Rice. The running back has been suspended indefinitely following a domestic violence issue. Now, the Ravens must move on and continue on with the remainder of their season without one of their top offensive performers. As quarterback Joe Flacco looks to the others to step up, he believes Torrey Smith will be a crucial player going forward.
Flacco has no always has the kindest words for Smith. The wide receiver is coming off a career-high year where he put up 1,128 yards on 65 catches. In the first game of the season, he had a quiet 50 yards off three catches and seven targets. As a whole, the Ravens struggled in their loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, but most of the blame rests on the offense. Without Rice, they will have to get others to take his production numbers and Flacco believes Smith will be that player.
The quarterback did not seem to believe that in the preseason. Flacco had originally told CBSSports.com that Smith needed to work on his route running and underneath routes. However, now he is singing a different tune.
"I think most of what I said, what I said during training camp, was that in the past, a lot of those underneath things in the stop routes, on the sideline, things like that, they were the things that we probably struggled with a little bit," said Flacco, via The Baltimore Sun. "But so far this year, they have been incredible. What I believe, what I probably said or was referring to, is Torrey is a 1,000-yard receiver and he's a 100-catch guy. And the thing that's going to get him to those 100 catches is going to be it's not going to be running by guys and catching home runs over the top and all the things that he does really, really well, because he has that talent. It's going to be those little things."
Smith is entering the final year of his rookie contract, so stepping up for the Ravens will be crucial. Now is the time to prove that he can be the receiver that Flacco needs him to be. Alongside Smith, Steve Smith will also be heavily relied upon as he leads the team with 118 yards off seven catches from Sunday. The Ravens also expect Dennis Pitta and Owen Daniels to help add versatility to the offense as Justin Forsett and Bernard Pierce now handle the ground game.
