Nice Jimmy Smith story

[Shas]

After abandoning The Sun years ago, I've been enjoying my subscription to The Athletic.

Today Zrebiec has a a nice piece on Jimmy Smith's season. In essence, Smith is pretty candid about his struggles this season to regain his quick-twitch speed coming off the achilles injury. He admits that he had been kidding himself that his one-time speed was still there, playing as if it was, but getting burned, particularly against the Saints.

But rather than sulk, he seems to have pushed himself to work through it, the article contends. It references working with Tim White during extra reps to emulate Julio Jones, with Smith working on his lateral quickness. And Smith adopting Brandon Carr's pregame warm-ups designed to "get twitchy" (Carr--the guy who has not missed a start in years).

I know it's popular on this board to trash Jimmy for his big paycheck and unmet expectations. And perhaps this is his last season as a Raven because of it.

But I urge the haters to let the season play out and invest emotions instead in the hope that Jimmy actually plays well, and the Ravens have the kind of corners in Carr, Humphrey and Smith who make a difference in the run for the playoffs.