Reality: Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith had season ending surgery this week.
Perception: It’s really a shame. Smith was having his best season. He was playing at the very top of his game, putting himself in a position to go to his first Pro Bowl. He was a top cornerback in this league for the first half of the season. He was more of a shut down corner than Richard Sherman and others who claim to be the best.
On the same day that it was announced he would be out the remained of the season, it was also announced that the Ravens exercised the fifth-year option on his contract. That means that Smith will be under contract with the Ravens next season with $6.898 million.
That sounds like a bargain to me for a guy who had become of one of the top corners in the NFL. Unfortunately, they will have to wait until next season to see if he can get back to the top of his game.
Reality: After giving up over 300 yards and 6 touchdown passes to the Steelers last week, the Ravens made a statement this week by shuffling the roster.
Perception: Head Coach John Harbaugh and General Manager Ozzie Newsome made a statement: they will not stand for the sort of effort that we saw on defense last week.
After the game, the Ravens released Dominique Franks and Chykie Brown, and promoted Tramain Jacobs from the practice squad. They also immediately claimed former Lions cornerback Danny Gorrer off waivers. The Lions were hoping to be able to re-sign him this week, but the Ravens snatched him up.
Gorrer knows the Ravens well. He played for them in 2011, and played in their defensive system in Detroit this season.
Gorrer is fast and will easily be an improvement over Brown. The question is, can Gorrer and Jacobs improve a defense that is ranked 24th in the NFL? According to ESPN, the Ravens have given up the most completions of passes that traveled 40 yards or more in the air in the league over the past two seasons. So they can’t do much worse.
Reality: The Ravens are in last place in the AFC North but still have a 50/50 shot at the playoffs, but they need to drastically improve their overall play.
Perception: At 5-4, they are still in good shape for the playoffs, since they are over .500. However, being in 4th place in their own division does not help things, and frankly, the Browns victory over the Bengals only made it worse for the Ravens in the division.
Earlier this year, the Ravens showed they finally got over the hump in one aspect. Forever, the Ravens were a team that played down to the level of their competition. They never blew teams away, even the bad teams. But this year, they learned how to put a beating on a few teams. They need to do that again Sunday against the Titans. This is a game they should win easily.
Then they have a bye week to prepare for their toughest game, on paper, left on their schedule. After a week off, they will travel to New Orleans to take on Drew Brees and the high powered Saints offense on the fast track. The Saints have won 11 straight games at home and the Ravens secondary is struggling. So they have to beat the Titans and then use every bit of the two weeks they will have to prepare a secondary for their toughest matchup.
It won’t get an easier as the Ravens then come home to take on Philip Rivers and the Chargers. If this game was in San Diego, I’d be more worried, but since it’s in Baltimore I feel pretty good. WJZ’s Mark Viviano tweeted last week that coming into the season, West Coast teams are just 43-83 playing in the Eastern Time zone over the past decade. We saw the Chargers lay an egg in Miami last week and I see them doing it again in Baltimore in a few weeks.
But then the Ravens have a game in Miami, where the Dolphins are playing very well, at home against the Jaguars, in Houston, and then finish up the regular season at home against the surging Browns.
It’s always been said that you have to get to 10 wins to make the playoffs, but with everyone in the AFC North over .500, 11 wins might be the magic number. That means they need to win at least five of their last seven games, and really need six of their last seven to make sure they make the playoffs. It’s a tough remaining schedule, but if they want to be a playoff team they need to start playing like it.
