This isn’t the first beef that Baltimore fans have had with Grantland.com’s NFL staff writer Bill Barnwell. After week one, Barnwell attributed “fumble luck” to the Ravens 35-7 pounding of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s back again after the Baltimore beat Pittsburgh and this week he’s listing wide receiver Torrey Smith as his Flop of the week.
Barnwell cites Smith’s dropped passes, which I pointed out in my Quick Hits piece, and his holding penalty on the game’s first play that eliminated a potential 76 yard touchdown by Ray Rice. I can’t disagree with the drops, but William Gay put on a show to get the flag on the holding penalty. It was a classic “fall on the back and hope the zebra throws the flag” move by Gay. Unfortunately it worked.
Oh yeah, and Smith caught the GAME WINNING TOUCHDOWN after being mugged by Gay in the corner of the end zone.
Flop: Torrey Smith. Again, maybe this is a little harsh for the player who scored the game-winning touchdown, but Smith also dropped what would have been the game-winning touchdown four plays earlier by slowing down on his route prematurely. He was also responsible for a (legitimate and unnecessary) holding penalty on the opening play from scrimmage that wiped Ray Rice’s 76-yard touchdown off the board.
Barnwell’s Fabulous player from the Ravens-Steelers game was James Harrison. It wasn’t Joe Flacco who kept his cool under pressure and marched the Ravens 92 yards down the field with just over two minutes on the clock, dealt with dropped passes by two of his receivers in the red zone and still managed to find a rookie open in the corner of the end zone who was being held by a defender. Nope. Not that guy.
Harrison along with Steelers safety Ryan Clark are expected to receive fines for their dirty hits by the way.
Maybe Barnwell missed the last 2 minutes and 24 seconds of the game. Then his Fabulous and Flop picks would make a little more sense.
