Is Ray Rice Too Much Of A Crutch?

[Pitts200]

Now not taking anything away from Ray Rice, he is obviously a fantastic rb. He has the feet and the hands to be a 3 down player.

But watching how Flacco hasn't progressed as much as his ability seems he should after 4 years. I did a quick search about how many receptions rbs in the league had last year. And among the elite QBs, almost none of their rbs had a lot of receptions, minus Darren Sproles who SD lined up as a receiver sometimes. Now obviously I know there are a lot of other factors like if a team has a primary 3 down back or if a rb even has the ability to catch out of the backfield.

But I just wonder due to all the faith that Joe has in Rice if it sometimes has become a crutch for Joe and his development with Wrs?

Don't take this as criticism on Joe.

[Moderator 3]

Actually, I think Ray Rice is Cam's "crutch". Ray is our biggest play-maker on Offense and Cam wants to get the ball to him.

[H8R]

He's pretty much the best player on the field for this offense. If that's a crutch... Give me 2 of them! : )

[PuRock]

[quote name='H8R' timestamp='1316528052' post='799146']
He's pretty much the best player on the field for this offense. If that's a crutch... Give me 2 of them! : )
[/quote]

Yea this is pretty funny considering it is coming from a Steelers fan. Rice is the best player on the field. You tend to want to get players like that the ball.

[flynismo]

Couple things.

First, Flacco has only played 3 full seasons, so its not really accurate to say 'after 4 years'.

Second, Flacco is ahead of schedule, if anything. He was expected by many to be a bit of a project.

Now is Rice a hinderance to Flacco's development? Well, was Marshall Faulk a hinderance to Warner? Was tomlinson a hinderance to Brees or Rivers? Peyton threw to Edge a lot as well. Brady loved throwing to his RB when he had a good recieving back. Trent Green liked throwing to Priest and LJ. Brees loved throwing to Bush as well.

What I'm saying is, the RB is a weapon that the QB needs to utilize just like the WR is. I definitely dont think it is a bad thing or a crutch that Flacco does what nearly all the other great QBs do, which is use all the weapons he has at his disposal. In fact, it is the smart thing to do.

And I dont see it hindering his chemistry with the WR and TE either. Flacco routinely completes passes to 7, 8 or 9 different people every week.

Rice is a blessing, not a curse.

[H8R]

Rice IS the home run hitter on this team. Until Evans is healthy ( even then he may not be), rice is th threat.

[Bltravens]

I know where the OP is coming from though, when its designed plays to Rice then ya we gameplan to get him the ball because he's our best offensive player. However Joe was checking down way too fast against the Titans on Sunday. Sometimes you have to stand in there an extra half a second and get the ball downfield.

[Pitts200]

[quote name='flynismo' timestamp='1316528689' post='799154']
Couple things.

First, Flacco has only played 3 full seasons, so its not really accurate to say 'after 4 years'.

Second, Flacco is ahead of schedule, if anything. He was expected by many to be a bit of a project.

Now is Rice a hinderance to Flacco's development? Well, was Marshall Faulk a hinderance to Warner? Was tomlinson a hinderance to Brees or Rivers? Peyton threw to Edge a lot as well. Brady loved throwing to his RB when he had a good recieving back. Trent Green liked throwing to Priest and LJ. Brees loved throwing to Bush as well.

What I'm saying is, the RB is a weapon that the QB needs to utilize just like the WR is. I definitely dont think it is a bad thing or a crutch that Flacco does what nearly all the other great QBs do, which is use all the weapons he has at his disposal. In fact, it is the smart thing to do.

And I dont see it hindering his chemistry with the WR and TE either. Flacco routinely completes passes to 7, 8 or 9 different people every week.

Rice is a blessing, not a curse.
[/quote]

All good points but this is the NFL, New football league. Passing is much more prevalent now vs the 80s to early 2000s.

Of course Rice is a blessing, look how we have Mendenhall whom I feel is as good of a runner as Rice(which is my opinion and I'm not really looking to argue this point if you disagree thats fine) but he has nowhere near the same hands. Now Rice is your playmaker and yes he had a nice 30 something td pass on Sunday but I was just making a comparison to other top tier QBs in the league in this modern day NFL.

[Pitts200]

[quote name='H8R' timestamp='1316528839' post='799156']
Rice IS the home run hitter on this team. Until Evans is healthy ( even then he may not be), rice is th threat.
[/quote]

And I want to argue, that you're hindering Rice's big play ability because Joe likes to go back to that well pretty often so it loses it's surprise factor. I feel Rice would be much more effective out of the backfield with 2-4 catches per game where he can pick up the same amount of yards as if he had 5+ catches? And then spread those other 2-3 passes out to receivers or tes

[Pitts200]

[quote name='PuRock' timestamp='1316528373' post='799151']

Yea this is pretty funny considering it is coming from a Steelers fan. Rice is the best player on the field. You tend to want to get players like that the ball.
[/quote]

You're right, it's my secret plan as a steelers fan to get you guys to underutilize Ray because he killed us last game, ha!

[flynismo]

[quote name='Pitts200' timestamp='1316530937' post='799180']

All good points but this is the NFL, New football league. Passing is much more prevalent now vs the 80s to early 2000s.

Of course Rice is a blessing, look how we have Mendenhall whom I feel is as good of a runner as Rice(which is my opinion and I'm not really looking to argue this point if you disagree thats fine) but he has nowhere near the same hands. Now Rice is your playmaker and yes he had a nice 30 something td pass on Sunday but I was just making a comparison to other top tier QBs in the league in this modern day NFL.
[/quote]


I think you're just reading too much into things...
a 30 yard TD is a 30 yard TD. Doesn't matter much who is credited for it.

[RavensAllTheWay]

I've been saying this for a couple of years. One guy isn't going to get it done. Put the entire offensive load on one person's shoulder, a RB at that, and this is what you get in big games. Very little offensively. In 2009, when Rice had a phenominal season, the passing game was out of rythym down the stretch, and Rice carried us through. But in the playoff game at Indy, I would've liked to see us force it downfield more. I mean when were getting crushed in the 2nd half, you have nothing ot lose. Force it downfield. But we didn't do that, and by the looks of it in that game, I didn't see much of an attempt either.

That has been my number 1 gripe with Cam in the past. He sometimes calls games like were inept. [u]You cannot be inept when you play football, especially offensively[/u]. I don't ever want to see games where we just show zero confidence in throwing the ball, or going hurry up, or spreading the ball out, or whatever. In other words, as an OC, don't just ignore like half the playbook. It becomes very evident when teams see you doing the same plays over and over.

You see what we did against Pit last week? THAT's our potential. That's what we can do.

[Suggs Package]

no. haha. If he is, I sure would like a few more.

RIce looks scary good this year, even better than last year. Might end up being the best back in the NFL this year.

[Pitts200]

[quote name='flynismo' timestamp='1316531300' post='799188']


I think you're just reading too much into things...
a 30 yard TD is a 30 yard TD. Doesn't matter much who is credited for it.
[/quote]

It's about game planning too. If a team knows they have to keep a linebacker or safety on the rb, this keeps the middle of the field clogged up since he is playing slightly off the line of scrimmage and playing rover. In turn you can say this opens up the field long for wide receivers but when you aren't built to go long, this becomes a negative.

I definitely think if Rice wasn't so overused that he'd have potential to break off even more big catches vs one big catch mixed in with 4 or 5 small gains.

[baltravens]

[quote name='Pitts200' timestamp='1316526631' post='799112']
Now not taking anything away from Ray Rice, he is obviously a fantastic rb. He has the feet and the hands to be a 3 down player.

But watching how Flacco hasn't progressed as much as his ability seems he should after 4 years. I did a quick search about how many receptions rbs in the league had last year. And among the elite QBs, almost none of their rbs had a lot of receptions, minus Darren Sproles who SD lined up as a receiver sometimes. Now obviously I know there are a lot of other factors like if a team has a primary 3 down back or if a rb even has the ability to catch out of the backfield.

But I just wonder due to all the faith that Joe has in Rice if it sometimes has become a crutch for Joe and his development with Wrs?

Don't take this as criticism on Joe.
[/quote]
Baloney. Did Jim Kelly use Thurman Thomas as a crutch because he threw to him often? After all, [u]both[/u] made the Hall of Fame.

[izvoodoo]

[quote name='Pitts200' timestamp='1316526631' post='799112']
Now not taking anything away from Ray Rice, he is obviously a fantastic rb. He has the feet and the hands to be a 3 down player.

But watching how Flacco hasn't progressed as much as his ability seems he should after 4 years. I did a quick search about how many receptions rbs in the league had last year. And among the elite QBs, almost none of their rbs had a lot of receptions, minus Darren Sproles who SD lined up as a receiver sometimes. Now obviously I know there are a lot of other factors like if a team has a primary 3 down back or if a rb even has the ability to catch out of the backfield.

But I just wonder due to all the faith that Joe has in Rice if it sometimes has become a crutch for Joe and his development with Wrs?

Don't take this as criticism on Joe.
[/quote]

San Diego runs the same offense. It's a Cam Cameron thing. If everyone's covered check down. I watch a lot of San Diego games, and they basically have the sexier version of our offense with better downfield threats.

[Pitts200]

[quote name='baltravens' timestamp='1316533018' post='799231']
Baloney. Did Jim Kelly use Thurman Thomas as a crutch because he threw to him often? After all, [u]both[/u] made the Hall of Fame.
[/quote]

Oh ya, how many superbowls did they win.. Definitely was a good winning strategy they had.

If you can't admit that the style of any sport changes each decade and just because it worked in the past it means it should work now is pretty narrow minded. So if the Ravens decided to run the wishbone or the statue of liberty, would you say, oh that was great it worked in the 70s and 80s so it's definitely goin to work now??