Baltimore Ravens jogging back Ray Rice said at his youth little league clinic, Ray Rice Morning, that he's ready to start catching more passes, based on Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun.
The perception of 'Rice the Receiver' will not be anything new—as Wilson points out, Rice has had probably the most receptions of any running back since getting in the league in '08, with 311, and she has the second-most receiving gardens among running backs, along with 2, 713. The idea of Rice being a top receiver inside the Ravens' offense, with Sean Caldwell as offensive sponsor, is something new, nonetheless.
It's not a terrible choice for Baltimore within 2013, especially as the team searches for a reliable receiving alternative to Anquan Boldin, whom it traded to the San Francisco 49ers to get a sixth-round draft pick. With 2011, Rice had 104 targets—just one less than Boldin, who led the team—and he or she is regularly amassed 500 or more receiving yards in some sort of season, including over six hundred, twice.
Rice's overall offensive role seemed to diminish in 2012. Both his 1, 143 hastening and 478 receiving meters were his lowest totals seeing that his rookie season. This wasn't as a consequence of any real or identified decline in Rice's abilities—he's never been injured and it is four years away in the dreaded age 30. That it was more about the employee around him, and the person tasked, for most of the season, with coordinating them.
From a personnel viewpoint, quarterback Joe Flacco had the top supporting cast of her NFL career. In addition to Rice as well as the reliable Boldin, he also had second-year receiver Torrey Brenard, tight ends Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson together with free agent addition Jacoby Jones, each of whom (save Dickson) had over 400 receiving meters apiece.
A major purpose of Flacco's good season—especially late within the year and through the playoffs—was Boldin. His absence over the roster leaves a key void, one that Henderson, Pitta, Dickson or any of the Ravens other receivers won't have the capacity to fill. Until the Ravens can learn someone reliable enough to battle Boldin's role while Smith plus the tight ends reprise their own, Rice could be a very than suitable option for Flacco.
This seems to run counter about what the Ravens have recently been prodded to do within the last few seasons, especially when Cam Cameron was their own offensive coordinator. A common criticism is usually that Rice was catching a lot of passes, with Flacco throwing many checkdowns, rather than the Ravens choosing more, dedicated receivers.
The conflation of Cameron's conservative play calling in addition to Flacco's issues when facing pressure triggered pass after pass tossed Rice's way, even when there were other receivers he may target further down the field. There are factors behind checkdowns to running backs—plays like most are designed for a reason—but there was also occasions in which Flacco would do so because he was hearing footsteps rather then reading his progression.
Rice being more involved in the passing game this time around could be for different reasons. While the Ravens continue looking for another receiver to make an impression, Rice provides an superb stop-gap; he's proven before that he is a really force in the passing offense now that Flacco is an increased, more comfortable quarterback, it will produce even greater outcomes.
The question is irrespective of whether Caldwell, the Ravens' brand-new offensive coordinator, is excited about doing so. The try size is small within Baltimore, with Caldwell overpowering for Cameron in Full week 15. From Week 15 in the Super Bowl, Rice is targeted by Flacco twenty six times, an average of 4. 3 targets a game; prior to 7 days 15, Rice was zeroed in on 61 times, or just over typically five per game.
When that holds in 2013, then Caldwell really should not calling for fewer gives to Rice than her predecessor. Though Caldwell do not have many passes chucked his running backs' manner when he helmed a Indianapolis Colts, the structure for the offense in Baltimore is different.
He appears to formerly embraced this, not really changing up how Rice is used as both a rusher together with receiver. As such, expect Rice to build around four or five—if possibly not seven or eight—passing targets per game this current year, depending on how they experience whoever becomes the Virtually no. 2 receiver alongside Smith.
Granted, the use of Rice within a heavy receiving role has drawn criticism to the Ravens and to Flacco in past times, but the circumstances in 2013 is a bit different than these in 2011. While the core of how come Rice would get elevated targets remains the same—a deficiency of options for Flacco—this time around, it's not about Flacco having to bail out of takes on, but rather the depend on for someone to help him make sure they are.
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