Ravens: Troy's big night
Troy Smith played about two quarters and winged the ball all over the place. He completed 14 of 30 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown, involving just about every receiver who was available to play. It wasn't the most efficient performance -- partly because of a handful of dropped passes -- but it was fun to watch him put his athleticism on display for an extended look.
If you were hoping to get a sense for the pecking order in the receiver corps, good luck with that. Nine different receivers and running backs caught passes in the second quarter and a total of 11 caught passes from either Flacco or Smith in the first half. When it was over Flacco, Smith and John Beck used a total of 15 receivers and running backs.
"It's been drilled into all our heads to spread the ball around,'' said Smith, who returned to the game near the end when Beck got banged up. "Hugh Jackson (quarterbacks coach) has down a great job of broadening our horizon."
Comments
Getting a sense of the pecking order would be a lot easier if the guys who kept dropping balls didn't keep getting looks. I counted 4 easy drops from Harper, but then he made about 3 other big catches including the TD. Marcus Smith also had a nice sideline catch coupled with an easy drop. There was one WR, the announcers said he was a free agent acquisition, Jason somebody? He looked decent.
Also, who is this Matt Lawrence? With Rice, McGahee, Peerman, and McClain, no one has spoken a word about any other backs, but number 32 seems to have some spring in his step.
Posted by: Michael K. | August 14, 2009 12:24 AM
Found it on John Beck's injury report there. Beck said he injured his throwing shoulder when a Redskins player barreled into him after Beck completed a 64-yard pass to wide receiver Jayson Foster in the fourth quarter. You hate to see a guy get hurt, but fortunately, we have a few guys ahead of Beck on the depth chart. As for Foster, I suppose he hasn't set himself apart in camp, but it was a nice play on the field. With all these guys getting playing time, hopefully one of them can stand out as a solid No. 3 receiver.
Posted by: Michael K. | August 14, 2009 12:40 AM