[Blogs] Late For Work 6/7: The Total Body: Ray Rice

[BR News]

The Total Body: Ray Rice

Ray Rice has a body that has his coaches and teammates thanking the football powers that be.

Please excuse his opponents if they don’t have the same attitude of gratitude.

They have the task of finding the pocket-sized running back among 300-pound lineman, then trying to catch the elusive speedster and THEN they have to actually bring down his 205 pounds of muscle.

With a combination of powerful legs, a balanced and stable core and upper body strength, Rice is perfectly sculpted to run through, around or over opposing defensive lines.

“I think at running back you have to have the total body,” Ray Rice said in an ESPN The Magazine interview.

“Being that I’m not a little 5-9, I’m about 208, I can take a blow, but at the same time my low center of gravity helps me a lot. By the time I get to the line of scrimmage, guys typically can’t find me, then if I’m at full speed and you’re at half speed then it’s kind of hard.”

These photos and video give a small peak into the “Body Shot,” a series created by ESPN The Magazine with up close and personal, visual looks at elite athletes’ bodies. Rice will be featured in the June 14 issue.

I’ve seen Rice on several occasions around The Castle in Owings Mills. If I didn’t know I was looking at him in real life, I would think his body was photoshopped.

I’d suspect this was an easy day at the office for ESPN’s photographers and graphic designers.

Pressure Point: Is Flacco Super Bowl Ready?

ESPN’s Matt Williamson said he is leaning toward predicting the Ravens as the winner of this season’s Super Bowl.

But the Scouts Inc. analyst, who helped recruit Joe Flacco to Pitt and watched him in high school, has concerns about the third-year quarterback’s ability to handle the upcoming pressure and wonders if he is Super Bowl ready.

“Flacco is not on par with the big boys at the position right now,” Williamson said. “He needs to take his game to another level for the Ravens to win the whole thing.”

With two playoff berths in as many years in the league, an improved receiving corps and all the physical tools a quarterback needs, Flacco has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“I expect the Ravens to throw more often this season and further trust Flacco to get the job done,” Williamson said. “That approach worked well early in the 2009 season, when the Ravens scored 30 or more points in five of their first seven games. But it also puts more pressure on Flacco.”

Quick Hits

• Tweet from Baltimore Sun’s Jamison Hensley: “The Orioles are on their sixth manager since 1999. During that same period, the Ravens have had two head coaches.”
• Marv Albert said Friday that he is ending his eight-year run as the radio voice of “Monday Night Football” on the Westwood One network, reported The New York Times.

[url=http://blogs.baltimoreravens.com/2010/06/07/late-for-work-67-the-total-body-ray-rice/]View the full article[/url]

[scrock]

Flacco can handle the pressure, dude from Pitt is just mad because they decided to keep Joe on the bench and he has seen what Joe can do and now he feels real dumb.

[scrock]

I realize the recruiter didnt have a say in who starts...i was mostly just BS'n

[birdman20]

If anything flacco should have less pressure, he already proved he is an awesome passer and after the first couple of weeks when he realizes his receiving corps is awesome he will just sit back and chuck that ball. It will be easier on him this year than last.

[vannlambert]

Ray is the MAN .I hope he punishes ever DEF Linemen we go up against and I hope he keeps every one in the secondary to play shallow so our passing game can be more productive.

[jravens727]

Ray Rice is Ready! Flacco is on pace in his Career. In todays sports many of these analyst expect players to come in and immediately take their teams to the championship and win it. How many great players have done that. Did they expect that of Tom Brady, Drew Breeze, or even Payton Manning. NO! So why is this expected of Flacco. When he does win a championship. SHUT THE HELL UP. Please. He will be fine and talk about handling pressure. This guy is ("UnFLACCOBLE") unflappable.

[JayDaRavensFan]

As long as he improves against the blitz i'm sure he'll be good. That was a weakness last year. Hopefully with the improved WR core and our beast running game he'll step his game up anotha notch or so. Cant wait to see how he does this season.

[JayDaRavensFan]

Oh yeah...Ray Rice is THE MAN!!

[bobseeds]

"Flacco is not on par with the big boys at the position right now."
Well neither were the "big boys" on par with the big boys going into their third year. Joe's numbers are comparable to almost all of the best starting rookie QB's after 2 years. It takes time to become a "big boy" and Joe's on pace right now. Can't wait to see year three!

[ozrave]

I find the notion that the team relies on Flacco quite ridiculous. He'll have a strengthened o-line so more time. He's going to have at least 3 good options on each play. The man needs to use his brain to process options, and his arm to execute set plans. The most important attributes, IMHO, are he's very familiar with the team and is a team player. More damaging than some idea of poor execution is to have a hot-head not going through with plans laid down at the sideline. Go Ravens; let's just take apart the competition this year. Every single game.

[vannlambert]

with the weapons in the pass attack and the devastating running game there is no way the defenses can totally focus on one thing they are going to be forced to pick their poison.

[coreyadams]

Keep it up Rice... Give the whole NFL a big bowl!!!

[vannlambert]

Maybe some one here can clear this up for me I left a comment on a article a few days ago where I referred to Pittsburgh Steelers as the Pittsturd Squeelers and my comments where edited out like used foul language. I have been on this and other sites like NFL.com and have seen racist thing said and that stuff seems to slip through the cracks but you add a word like TURD onto something and the editors of this blog act like you just typed <[i]note that intentionally misspelling cuss words to bypass the obscenity filter is also a violation of the Code of Conduct[/i]>. what are we lining in Russia freedom of speech and TURD is not foul language . the editors of this blog must work for sesame street. we are grown men on this blog mot 5year old children.

[RavensFanThick&Thin]

Oddly enough vannlambert, I was refreshing the page waiting for that line to be "moderated." I guess the big thing is, are we really grown men? ALL of us that is. There maybe kids and females on here who are short on words outside of gentlemen "like" standards. However in my personal experience whatever is said on here is elementary compared to what a real fan hears, especially during a PITT game. But policy is policy.

[Ravens♥Legacy]

[color=#5E5E5E][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2]The Ravens need to go to the Super Bowl (and win) this year...everything just seems right. Better offense, always great defense, awesome coaches....and it's been 10 years. Don't you guys just feel it coming? [/size][/font][/color]
[color=#5E5E5E][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2]
[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#5E5E5E][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=2]And the Orioles SUCK! I wouldn't go to their games for free, it's a waste of my time....[/size][/font][/color]

[Raven4Life21]

Ray Rice is the total package... So is the Ravens running game with McClain, McGahee and Rice... Yes I said Willis... I would love to keep him around but he needs to get his butt to practice

[wtrent1]

Too bad Flacco will blow it again!

[ozrave]

@ravens_legacy, Hope you're right. But other playoff teams aren't standing 'round with last year's strategies and people. And there's always the X-factor of injuries. Remember when Suggs was out; it disturbed the chemistry of the d-line.

Certainly on paper, today, we've got what it takes.

[RideOrDieFan18]

Some people spell like five year olds.

[vannlambert]

RavensFanThick&Thin you are right the stuff kids and women hear at games is much worst than 95% of the stuff people say at games and I just feel that context has more to do with it than the language. if you say jerk like "His head was pulled in a jerk manor" . Thats fine but if I verbally assault someone on this site by calling them a jerk thats something else. And I think every body knows that if you say hey that player so and so is a TURD you don't physically mean a bodily excrement you are using it in a slang meaning that player is worthless or no good .

[vannlambert]

RavensFanThick&Thin you are right the stuff kids and women hear at games is much worst than 95% of the stuff people say on the blog . is what i ment to say

[vannlambert]

RideOrDieFan18 I guess the built in spell corrector doesn't pick everything up or people don't fix their mistakes . Ray Rice is better than Chris Johnson because he is more versatile he can be a slasher and a bruiser and a slot receiver.

[J.O.14]

I think Ray Rice is going to have another great year if he stays healthy. With more passing weapons, it takes some weight off him and puts it on flacco. He will tear Defenses up. I hope flacco does good this year, to prove a lot of people wrong and that he is our QB of the future.

[J.O.14]

and another thing, how come people are so hard on Flacco, what about Matt Ryan, who is suppose to be so great. People dont give him near as much crap, and Flacco did way better than he did this year, and without the weapons.

[T-ray]

I'm pretty sure, no, I'm 100% sure that kids hear much, much worse words than 'turd'. Heck, even parents don't think twice about using the word when describing something their dog just did in the back yard. Plus, a majority of parents say some pretty bad curse words also.

[wtrent1]

Ray Rice will be in the top 3 RBs this year. Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson, and Ray Rice. And by Joe Flacco do you mean Vinny Testaverde?

[T-ray]

Joe Flacco is the type of Qb I'd want on my team. Young, has all the tools to be an elite Qb, and has even more room to improve. He also has leadership ability, as shown in the Vikings game. Too much pressure?? Come on man, he was getting sacked left and right in the Vike's game AWAY, and he still led his team back with Ray Rice to almost get an upset win. So take that for too much pressure haha

[J.O.14]

T-ray dont forget the Patriots game where he was driving us down the field and we lost because Clayton Dropped a pass that hit him right in the chest. And guess who took the blame for that, flacco, he said it was his fault, and everyone know it wasnt. Thats the type of teammate he is.

[RideOrDieFan18]

[quote name='wtrent1' date='07 June 2010 - 11:57 AM' timestamp='1275926267' post='418786']
Too bad Flacco will blow it again!
[/quote]

Will someone please revoke this kid's commenting privileges. You obviously aren't a fan of our team, how do you find the time to comment on a fansite of a team that you don't even like? But really it's like what Katt Williams said...."What do you think a hater's job is? To hate....so let them do their jobs" plus a few explicits but i did the moderators the favor of taking them out.

[vannlambert]

I just like to sat the "Late for work " articles and blogs seem to be the best keep up the good work Sarah Ellison.