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Steve Smith, Please Return to Your Team

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Depending on which set of receiving statistics you value, Steve Smith Sr. is in the top 20 of NFL receivers through eleven weeks of the 2014 season.

Ten weeks ago he was in the top 5.

Four weeks ago he was in the top 10.

Now, like an old Partridge Family song that the kids no longer listen to, Smith’s losing his appeal faster than you can say “C’mon Get Happy.”

What’s happened to Smith?

When the Panthers came to town in late September, he lit them up — predictably some would say — for a couple of touchdowns, a half-dozen ball spins and sixteen verbal jabs with ex-teammates. He even launched into a funny (maybe not so much, now) highlight clip afterwards about the old man putting on a clinic or something like that.

That’s about the last time we’ve heard from Steve Smith Sr.

For the Ravens to be successful in these final six weeks of the campaign, they need their wide receiver to come through, the same way A.J. Green does for Cincinnati, or Antonio Brown does for Pittsburgh. Yes, yes, I know Green is one of the top three receivers in the league and Brown is getting to that point (if not already there) and Smith in the November of his career, but I don’t think the Ravens can reach ten or eleven wins unless he recovers from this six-week belly flop he has produced.

Touchdown catches aren’t everything. Heck, Smith’s meager total of four for the season doubles that of Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald and Reggie Wayne of the Colts. Maybe we should be more thankful for the four trips to the end zone he’s made after all, huh?

The numbers, though, and the way they’ve been compiled simply don’t lie. Smith got off to a great start, leveled off by mid-season and over the last month has vanished quicker than the New Radicals did following their 1998 smash hit, “You Get What You Give.”

[youtube]http://youtu.be/DL7-CKirWZE[/youtube]

I wasn’t 100% sure the Ravens would get #1 receiver production out of Steve Smith this season but I most certainly didn’t think he was going to become Marlon Brown by week eleven, either.

We all know what we’ve been seeing, or, rather, not seeing. Steve Smith hasn’t had a productive game since he carved up the Tampa Bay Bucs for 110 yards and one TD back on October 12. Then again, I had 78 yards receiving in that game and your Aunt Betty even caught 3 balls for 29 yards in the 48-17 rout of Tampa Bay.

That Tampa Bay whipping was the last we’ve seen or heard from Steve Smith Sr. As we’ve witnessed this year, if you’re not hearing from him, chances are good he’s not doing much. Lots of receivers are like that, so I’m not picking on him specifically when I point out that Smith’s only running his mouth when things are going well for him.

And vice versa. If he’s catchin’, he’s yappin’.

The Ravens brought Steve Smith Sr. in, primarily, for one reason: AFC North football. Unfortunately, five of the team’s six divisional games have been played, so there’s not much opportunity remaining for Smith to punish the Steelers, Browns or Bengals. That said, these remaining six games are make-or-break time for the Ravens and this is precisely why they added the former Panther to the roster in the off-season.

They brought him in to be the difference, a tall task, perhaps, for a 35 year old, but he welcomed the challenge with open arms and through the season’s first month, it looked like a productive move for Ozzie Newsome and Company.

Now, as Thanksgiving nears — both on this season and Smith’s career calendar — we need to see him contribute the way he did back in September.

No more talking about it.

No more bragging, boasting and “clinic” digs.

Just catch the ball, son.

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