Ravens Insider: Behind Steve Smith Sr., Ravens wide receiver group developing each game

[ExtremeRavens]

A small and ultimately insignificant quibble was settled Sunday evening as the dust settled after the Ravensâ 25-20 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at Leviâs Stadium.

All year, wide receivers Kamar Aiken and Marlon Brown have been under a small bit of scrutiny in a passing offense that seems to...

 

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[tsylvester]

Not too sure about this one...... Improvements with each game? really? Like running one out of ten routes better than the game before?

 

Brown still does not know how to run against the zone, how to identify windows in the zone, & speed up, slow down or sit as the windows open. Just because the play sheet says the zone window should be at 10 yards, does not mean the actual play of the defense means it will be there at 10, it may be at 8 or 12, you may need to speed up or slow down... He still can't get that right.... Forget about seperation, there is none in man coverage, so no improvement there either.... He is still dropping one out of two passes thrown to him, so where is the improvement? The same goes for the others....

 

 

As a team, the Ravens utilized nearly every pass-catching option at their disposal to collect 353 receiving yards. Smith accounted for 139 of them, and the wide receiver group otherwise had nine catches on 19 targets for 83 yards. Brown had one catch for nine yards, while Aiken had three for 22 including the touchdown. Relative newcomers Jeremy Ross and Chris Givens had three catches for 34 yards and two receptions for 18 yards, respectively.

Smith was again the focal point of the passing attack, with a team-leading 10 targets, and 13 targets went to the backfield trio of Justin Forsett, Buck Allen and Kyle Juszczyk. But Brown believes the complementary group of receivers behind the five-time Pro Bowl receiver Smith is improving by the game.

“I feel like we’re doing pretty good,” he said. “I feel like most of the balls that come our way, we’re making plays on. Every week, we’re getting better. We’re just getting confidence, especially Kamar. I feel like if we just keep doing that, we’ll be good.”

 

 

 

I am glad to see them use Ross and Givens more now, they should get expanded roles now that they have some more of the offense down.

 

Ross, whose role expanded and also had a key third-down carry on a jet sweep similar to how the Ravens used Michael Campanaro before his season-ending back injury, welcomes the growing role. He also had a second kick return of over 40 yards in as many weeks to solidify himself as an impact player in that phase.

“Whenever you can come in and help your team in any way, that is always a good feeling,” Ross said. “So I feel good about it and get an opportunity to be on the team and get an opportunity to help contribute.”