Our Running Back Situation

[DocMartin]

Ravens have only TWO RBs on the roster at this time - Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce. Is it enough? Im not going to beat the dead horse about cutting Allen and Rainey, but we need 3rd RB soon. TE Dennis Pitta will go on IR which will open roster spot. Should we use this spot for.RB? Absolutely Yes.
Pierce was banged up and might not be 100% and I have a feeling this Denver game will get physical. Could we use Jusczyk at RB if needed? Not really because he is more TE than FB, so who do we have, Leach maybe for few carries? I know we just signed Jonas Gray from Dolphins to our Practice Squad, Don't know much about this kid, played for Notre Dame in college, scored couple TD's for Dolphins in preseason, advertised as power.runner 6'1 225lbs, which is exactly what Ravens need. Someone who can get us a yard or two when we need it. So I do like this move, but question remains Is he ready for Prime Time action? And if not, who else is.out there available? Dwyer, Torrain who else?

[Ravenseconbeast]

I think so.   Vonta if you remember last year had a much bigger role than Anthony Allen on short yardage situation.   I predict he'll be used the same role as the thumper for #3.   Juice will probably align more to a TE role on offense.    

[GrimCoconut]

Allen wasn't a very good RB. It was in ST he made his money. He's still unsigned so it's not like we lost anything. I expect for us to use Leach as the power back. Pierce will be a slasher, and Ray Rice the feature back. Rice has proved to be very durable. I know we appear light at RB and we very well may be but let's see where it goes. If the coaches aren't concerned I'm not.

As for TE and Juszczyk I see him being used in Allen's role as well as being used to catch passes in the slot.

[MTRavensFan]

I'm guessing they plan on re-signing Anthony Allen.

 

There's also the issue of Ryan Jensen, who may go IR. I think they're dragging their feet trying to decide who to DTR. Is it worth the gamble to go with Pitta, or give it to the rookie you know can play later in the season?

[Gordo52]

I expect Rice & Pierce to have very large roles again this year. They're both huge parts of our offense so having a 3rd RB would make sense in the event of an unfortunate situation. *knock on wood*

If something unfortunately does happen to one of them, there are plenty of FA RB options available. Turner,McGahee,Wells,Hightower,Benson,Smith and plenty more. I'm not advocating to bring any of those in, but those are some options in that circumstance.

The depth in free agent RB's is our 3rd string

[scrock]

I think our new FB Kyle Juicecheck :) will be used in more of an offensive wild card roll, line up out of backfield as a WR option, running a little perhaps....i'm not worried about the RB depth, if we need help we'll get it

[RobFuseRaven]

Pitta is going to be put on injured reserve designated for return today and hopefully Jensen will be IR'd soon, so that's 2 moves that still need to be made. I'm kind of high on Jonas Gray right now. I think he'd make a good 3rd RB.

[beanfigger]

I heard Leon Washington is available.  Two (backup) birds with one stone, RB and returner.

[TimeEdReed]

I think Allen's ST blocking was too valuable and he's going on the roster. Let's face it, if RR27 goes down it would be the second most devastating loss only worse thing would be losing Flacco. Our season might not be salvageable without him. Allen is no Pierce, but if it came down to it maybe he would do as a change of pace guy.

[Guest Im An Ozzie Newsome Guy]

Correct me if I'm wrong: Didn't the 2011-12 Ravens, despite having Ray Rice, Ricky Williams and Anthony Allen on the 53-man roster, only suit-up Rice and Williams for the majority of the season?

 

Anyways, I agree with what most of everyone else is saying. At some point, either Leach or Juice will pick-up the carries that Allen would have got. However, having Allen on the roster wouldn't hurt, since he was strong at paving the way for Jacoby Jones on kick returns.

[Militant X 1]

Rice, Pierce, Leach and then the our new FB will enable the Ravens to move the ball on the ground just fine!  we have no situation imo.

 

~Mili

[rmw10]

Yeah I'm not sure if it's really that big of a deal to only carry 2, being that Leach and Juice can both carry the ball if necessary. It's not ideal, but if the situation calls for it, they can handle it for a portion of the game.  Even with Allen on the team, we really only had 2 RB's, so it's not that much of a change.

[DocMartin]

As expected Ravens put Denni Pitta on IR Designated to return today. And brought back TE Billy Bajema which is a good move. Our new RB Jonas Gray from PS has been getting reps in practice alongside Ray Rice, so thats a good news. Gray was wearing jersey No. 35 which means Anthony Allen is not coming back.

[ravens533]

Rice, Pierce, Leach and then the our new FB will enable the Ravens to move the ball on the ground just fine!  we have no situation imo.

 

~Mili

I agree. We can also pull someone up from the PS if the need arises. No worries there. Some other positions are a little thin but I think our run game is fine.

[gabefergy]

If an injury occurs than maybe we bring Gray up from the PS or sign someone like Allen off the street. Until that happens I dont see a need to carry a 3rd RB. Juice can run the ball if necessary too.

[The King]

Neither Rainey nor Allen is much better than the horde of guys that can be signed off the street. They give replacement-level contributions in the running game. If both Bernard Pierce and Ray Rice get injured in a game then we're in a lot of trouble no matter who the third guy on the roster is. If one of them gets injured then we can bring another guy in. There's no more reason to carry 3 RBs than there is to go sign a third QB, even less considering that we have two FBs on the roster.

[The Raven]

I'm concerned. It is not the norm for any team, run heavy or not, to carry only two running backs. Maybe Juice is capable of rushing, but I'm not sure about that. Did he ever do that at Harvard? Three carries in college. He's an athletic dude, and I think he could be capable of carrying the football if needed, but he's not experienced with it. 

 

Rice is an integral part of the offense. Pierce is an important part as well. Pierce has had his fair share of injuries so far at the pro level. If Rice were to go down, I would be somewhat concerned with Pierce being in as our lone active back. I would also like to have a third RB if Pierce goes down so we could keep Rice's carries down.

[Bltravens]

I'm guessing they plan on re-signing Anthony Allen.

 

There's also the issue of Ryan Jensen, who may go IR. I think they're dragging their feet trying to decide who to DTR. Is it worth the gamble to go with Pitta, or give it to the rookie you know can play later in the season?

Hopefully this was hypothetical, but its absolutely the right move to us it on Pitta than a rookie backup OL.  Jensen comes back what do we gain that cant be found on the market?  Pitta comes back and can actually run like he used to the whole NFL collectively goes "crap".  Not to mention we can actually use the offense Caldwell designed all offseason, the two TE, 2 WR, single back with Pitta split into the slot.

 

Also because of this (Pitta getting hurt and screwing the base offensive make up into disarray for a second) it forced the Ravens to re-sign Leach and now we carry 2 FBs instead of 3HBs and 1 FB.  Pitta doesn't get hurt and Leach isn't re-signed.

[beanfigger]

Hopefully this was hypothetical, but its absolutely the right move to us it on Pitta than a rookie backup OL.  Jensen comes back what do we gain that cant be found on the market?  Pitta comes back and can actually run like he used to the whole NFL collectively goes "crap".

 

I hope we're like 8-1 AND THEN Pitta comes back.  The rest of the league will throw up the white flag.

[MTRavensFan]

No, I agree it's the right move, even if Pitta doesn't play a down this year, just the threat that he might screws with opponents' gameplan.

I've also never thought much of Allen, just that the coaches have seemed to be real high on him.

[Bltravens]

I hope we're like 8-1 AND THEN Pitta comes back.  The rest of the league will throw up the white flag.

I'd be ok with it lol

[baltravens]

I'd be ok with it lol

 

You'd be O.K., and I would hyperventilate from the excitement.