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SI: Break It Down: Versatile Ray Rice dominates Pittsburgh
http://nfl.si.com/2011/09/12/break-i...es-pittsburgh/
Rice put on full display in Week 1 what makes him so dangerous, flashing his speed, vision and versatility in a spectacular performance against a hated division rival. There are not a lot of backs in the NFL that could have done exactly what Rice did against the Steelers.
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Re: SI: Break It Down: Versatile Ray Rice dominates Pittsburgh
Ray Rice is the man! He's a great player who just keeps improving every year. Ozzie better make sure that Rice stays on this team for many more years.
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Re: SI: Break It Down: Versatile Ray Rice dominates Pittsburgh
not intended as a shot at McClain but having a true blocking fullback makes one helluva difference too.
World Domination 3 Points at a Time!
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09-12-2011, 12:25 PM #5Veteran Poster
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Re: SI: Break It Down: Versatile Ray Rice dominates Pittsburgh
The thing is, we kept hearing how McClain was one of the best blocking fullbacks in the league. Not from NFL analysts, but from people on talk shows and message boards. ;)
He is a hybrid RB/FB and he's a good player, but he's not a true blocking fullback. Leach is in the mold of Lo' Neal. Guy brings the thunder. I like what we have in front of us this season.
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Re: SI: Break It Down: Versatile Ray Rice dominates Pittsburgh
In college McClain was the top blocking FB prospect in the whole draft. He never ran the ball at Alabama. I used to watch him just punch right though a very good LSU D-line.
Once he got a taste of running the ball he just changed. McClain didn't want to be the younger Lo Neal. He thinks he's John Riggins.
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Re: SI: Break It Down: Versatile Ray Rice dominates Pittsburgh
not only is ray rice one of the most dynamic rb's in the league, but he seems like such a great guy. no ego, great teammate. he is set up to have a very special year with the improvements to the offense, wouldn't be suprised if he ended up an MVP candidate.
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Re: SI: Break It Down: Versatile Ray Rice dominates Pittsburgh
To me, this game was a demonstration of what many of us had been saying about the team's offseason intentions.
When they signed Leach, and moved Yanda back to guard, and let Mason go, and finally signed the huge McKinnie some jumped to the conclusion that they were planning on becoming a running team. As if they had given up on Joe a little.
Then, yesterday, when the active rosters were announced, and Doss was inactive, and they had three tight ends and three running backs up, I heard more rumbling about, oh no, they are going to try and run, run, run against Pittsburgh.
But what we said from the beginning was revealed when the Ravens were nearly 50/50 run/pass (31/29) -- despite holding the big lead. It's not that they intended to run more...it's that they intended to run more effectively. Their goal was to be sitting second and five instead of second and eight.
Leach, Yanda, and McKinnie all stood out in the way they were blowing people off the line.
The second part of their equation is speed. Dickson, Pitta, Evans, Smith -- they all looked faster than the Steelers secondary. Productive running made the Steelers linebackers have to respect the run, and then they were isolated against tight ends and backs all day as Evans and Boldin and Smith cleared deep. Exactly like that offense was designed to operate. Finnese players like Mason and Chester and Heap and McClain just were not a fit. Kudos for Harbaugh, Cam and Ozzie for getting on the same page.
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Re: SI: Break It Down: Versatile Ray Rice dominates Pittsburgh
Here is what Peter King had to say in his MMQB column:
Rice is nice, but he plays rough.
When I visited Ravens camp in late July, there was a different feeling about Ray Rice entering his fourth year. For the last couple of years, it was Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata and then Joe Flacco, and then anybody else on offense; that was the pecking order of franchise players once Jonathan Ogden left. Rice was creeping into the picture last year. This year, in relative importance with club officials, it seemed like Rice was on a level with the top defensive players. That's how highly he was regarded. And on the first weekend of the season, there were other players who played very well, including a couple who are teammates of Rice. But I thought Rice did something I simply would not see with these Pittsburgh Steelers -- physically impose his will on them on a few running plays. Last season, Pittsburgh was superb against the run, only twice allowing teams to exceed 100 yards (the Jets had 106, New England 103). On Sunday, Rice had 107, and the Ravens totaled 170. Only once in the last three years had a team run for so many on Pittsburgh.
The difference in this game was the Ravens didn't have Willis McGahee anymore, and Rice is now working as the short-yardage and goal-line back. Even though Ricky Williams got 12 carries Sunday, eight came in the fourth quarter, with Rice on the shelf to save further wear and tear. Rice was the every-down back when it counted, and it counted early: He started the game with a 36-yard sprint around left end and never stopped producing for three quarters.
"I'm a complete running back now,'' Rice said from the Ravens' locker room after the rout of Pittsburgh. "Before, I'd come out on goal-line and short-yardage. Now I am more of a complete back. When I get low and have to run with power, it's hard for guys to get under me and drive through me because I get so low.''
Rice did something interesting late in the game. He got involved in a shoving match with Troy Polamalu that turned Pittsburgh/Baltimore ugly. Eight or 10 players got involved, and hair was pulled (Polamalu's), a couple of kicks were given (hard to tell whom) and mayhem lasted for 20 or 25 seconds. When the game was over, Rice made a beeline for Polamalu to apologize for his role in the brawl. "I look up to you as a player,'' Rice told him.
"We have to look out for each other in this game,'' Rice said. "I know this is a heated rivalry and these games get so physical, but at the end of the day we respect them, and even though it gets heated, I don't get upset about things like that. It's football.''
That's a good guy to build a team around, particularly with defensive cornerstones like Lewis and Reed near the end of their careers.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz1Xl5wiJnY
World Domination 3 Points at a Time!
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Re: SI: Break It Down: Versatile Ray Rice dominates Pittsburgh
Very classy of him to find troy after the game. Great guy, great running back.
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09-12-2011, 01:32 PM #11Regular 1st Stringer
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Re: SI: Break It Down: Versatile Ray Rice dominates Pittsburgh
I'm sure LeRon had a great day in KC yesterday. Wonder if he is still handing out campaign shirts.
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Re: SI: Break It Down: Versatile Ray Rice dominates Pittsburgh
Disclaimer: The content posted is of my own opinion.
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