Steve Smith does not think Antonio Brown would be a good fit for the Baltimore Ravens and truly believes the franchise needs to give Lamar Jackson more support to help their passing game.
Smith spoke in length on the Inside Access with Jason La Canfora & Ken Weinman on 105.7 where he stated he liked the two WR’s the Ravens selected in the NFL Draft, but he still questioned how much work they will get in the team’s run-oriented offense.
“I love the picks, but you know I’m a wide receiver, and my question is always going to be how is this passing game going to develop?” Smith said on the show. “I hate to say it this way, but as a wide receiver, I loved to block. But I didn’t wake up trying to block and run seventy plays a game and 68 of the 70 are run plays. Then when the contract season comes up, you have leverage because my numbers aren’t up.”
In 2019, the Ravens broke the single-season NFL rushing record with 3,296 yards and became the first team in NFL history to average 206.0 rushing yards and 201.6 net passing yards per game last season. That is why Smith questioned the team’s decision to go away from their game plan during a playoff loss to the Tennessee Titans in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs.
Baltimore only ran the ball 29 times while Lamar completed 31 of 59 pass attempts for 365 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, but much of that was done in garbage time. Jackson also had a passer rating of 28.7%.
“What the Baltimore Ravens have done all year is run the ball efficiently, play keep-away, hold the ball, make opposing offenses reach and do things outside of themselves because they hold the ball so long,” Smith said. “Then they go into a playoff game and do the total opposite of what got them there. Here’s the interesting part: By doing that, what did you do? You show people that you’re not ready to be that?”
He then spoke how the coronavirus pandemic wil hurt the young players on the team.
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“COVID-19 has now [hampered] everyone from working on their game,” Smith said. “You can be out there practicing with guys, but you can never simulate a guy going against another [defensive back] full-speed and there’s a roaring crowd and your adrenaline is pumping. That can never be simulated. No virtual, Zoom call or air-conditioned room could ever simulate that. You have to learn and do that by good, old-fashioned hard work, hand-to-hand combat and on-the-job experience.
“And they haven’t gotten that yet, and it’s not because of them or lack thereof, but what kind of passing game will it be with these wide receivers? And how effective will they be because they haven’t had the chance to practice with each other because of social distancing?”
Lamar Jackson racked up 3,127 yards and an NFL-high 36 touchdowns last season.
