Quote Originally Posted by The Excellector View Post
I'm not buying it. Teams focus on Rice in the regular season. The idea that they focus on him in the playoffs is nothing new. They do it all year. San Fransisco probably had the toughest front seven that he faced in the playoffs. Indianapolis' defense was not very good. Denver's defense was mainly pass rush. New England's defense was not very good. San Fransisco's secondary was suspect, but their front seven was good.

As another poster declared, in my opinion, Rice just had a bad postseason by his standards.

I think that he was playing tight. The fumbles definitely got to him and it would not surprise me if the emergence of Benard Pierce played a role in that as well. Remember, Ray Rice has been in Pierce's position. He hasn't been in McGahee's position.
I respectfully disagree. Denver's D was 3rd in the NFL against the rush in terms of yards/game, 2nd in terms of yards/carry. New England was 9th in yards/game and 6th in yards/carry. SF was 4th in yards/game and tied for 3rd in yards/rush. Ray went up against some of the best rushing defenses in the league during the post-season. THAT'S why his stats suffered.

However, I think we will see his numbers improve next year. Assuming Flacco and Caldwell have continued success in the passing game, I think Rice will find defenses softer against the run. With the struggles the Ravens' passing game had this past regular season, I think a lot of DCs approach to stopping the Ravens was to stop Ray Rice first. After Flacco's playoff run, I think they're gonna fear the passing game a bit more now.