What’s Up With Roquan Smith?

Roquan Smith just doesn’t look like the same player. He’s regularly a step slow and rarely makes a play at or near the line of scrimmage. Against the Broncos, he looked tired and beaten, and I have to wonder if he’s playing hurt. And hopefully that is the case because if at the age of 27, Roquan is already on the backside of his career, well the Ravens have 3 more years of his contract to go with a cap number of $23,718,750 in 2025 and 28,718,750 in 2026 and 2027, respectively.

Some have wondered if his conditioning or lack thereof is keeping Roquan from approaching the level of play that inspired writers across the country to name him first-team All Pro in 2023. Have you?

Here’s a look at Roquan’s numbers through the first 9 games this season compared to the first 9 games of 2023:

Against the Broncos this past weekend, Roquan had just 3 tackles. He was on the field for 54 plays. Let that sink in.

Wonder if this commentary will represent another receipt for Roquan.

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“We’re going to be fine. There is a lot of outside noise, and there is a lot of adversity, as well, but you can’t get rattled. We keep receipts. At the end of the day, [we’ve] just got to make ‘cats’ pay for it, when the time comes. We’re going to be perfectly fine. We’ll look back at this interview pretty soon, and you’ll be like, ‘You were right.’ So, just trust the process, and I’m trusting that, and I have the utmost faith in each and every guy that’s in the back seven – including myself – that we’re going to get things the way things need to be done. So, just tune in Sunday.”  ~ Roquan Smith on the defense’s struggles

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Likely Out?

Isaiah Likely sat out practice on Monday and given the nature of his injury (hamstring) the bet here is that he’ll be inactive on Thursday night against the Bengals. Likely is a unique piece in Todd Monken’s offense. Why he is on the field chasing down a punt returner with under 6 minutes to go in a 41-10 game is an absolute coaching blunder.

Isaiah Likely played until late in the fourth quarter Sunday. He made this tackle on his final snap, so hopefully his absence today for a hamstring injury is precautionary. pic.twitter.com/wkh2b51EBa

— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) November 4, 2024

Still The King

According to The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia, through just nine games, Derrick Henry has 12 runs of 20+ yards this season. That’s more than any player had all last season.

Impressive, right?

And it makes this Tweet from the “legendary” former insider for both NFL Network and the NFL on CBS even more laughable:

For the record, the incomparable Jason La Canfora predicted a Ravens outright loss this past weekend against the Broncos. In his defense, the Ravens only won by 31.

[Ravens Unsung Hero For Week 9: This Week’s Big Crab Cake Is…]

Ravens at Steelers

On November 17 the Ravens head to Pittsburgh to take on the division leading Steelers in another clash between these bitter rivals. Is it me or does it almost always seem that when the Steelers play during primetime, they play at home? Well November 17 won’t be one of those times. Although NBC was likely campaigning for the Sunday night matchup (the networks obviously love those yellow rags that the Yinzers proudly swirl), the league opted instead to flex the Bengals at Chargers.

News from @NFL345 pic.twitter.com/AWgFtHsdXl

— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) November 4, 2024

Apparently the hangup with the Ravens at Steelers flex, was that Pittsburgh has to travel to Cleveland for a Thursday Night showdown against the Browns and it was deemed unfair to take away those 7 extra hours of rest from Mike Tomlin’s gang.

PFF: Promoting Fake Facts

Pro Football Focus, aka PFF, has become a benchmark for analytics in football. But how did that happen? Well, it certainly doesn’t hurt that Cris Collinsworth is the majority owner of PFF and he just happens to be the analyst on the most widely watched weekly program in all of America, and…the network he works for, NBC, promotes PFF as if it’s part of his contract. And maybe it is. But that doesn’t mean the benchmark is accurate. It doesn’t mean that their grades are facts.

Let’s consider who is doing the grading. According to PFF, they employ over 600 full or part-time analysts, but less than 10% of analysts are trained to the level that they can grade plays. Only the top two to three percent of analysts are on the team of “senior analysts” in charge of finalizing each grade after review.

So, the games are played on Sunday and by Monday afternoon, the film has been reviewed and the grades have been posted for every player who steps on the field on Sundays. Ninety percent of the people contributing to the grades are not trained analysts and all their contributions are funneled to 2 to 3 percent of the 600 who are “senior analysts”. Thirty teams (not counting the MNF game); 48 active players per team; all given grades by analysts, the vast majority of which are influenced by untrained analysts.

And this is a benchmark for the NFL just because Collinsworth has imposed his will upon NBC?

The highest rated Ravens player v. the Broncos per PFF was Zay Flowers. Great game on Sunday for sure, but how is his game better than Lamar Jackson? How did Kyle Van Noy earn a better grade than Tavius Robinson? And how in the world did they assign a grade of 63.5 to Pat Ricard, the 12th best grade on offense?

Not buying what I’m selling here? Then listen in to TJ Watt who shares his thoughts on PFF:

“PFF Sucks… they tell all these players and coaches that they’re so much smarter and they have ways of figuring things out that are so superior… I’ve sat in a meeting room with coaches and put the coaches’ grades and PFF grades side by side and it’s not even remotely close.”

“I’ve literally sat in a meeting room with coaches and put the grades side by side..

A coaches grade and a PFF grade and they’re not even close” ~ @JJWatt #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/NzqZy5JObb

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 17, 2024

Bucs at Chiefs

Not sure if you all did, but I watched the Tampa at KC game all the way through to the bitter end. A few thoughts:

• I have begrudgingly come to admire Baker Mayfield’s grit. He nearly pulled off the upset despite not having his top two receivers (Mike Evans and Chris Godwin).
• Patrick Mahomes unleashed his inner Ben Roethlisberger with all the drama surrounding his slightly tweaked ankle.
• Without hesitation, Todd Bowles should have gone for two when the Bucs scored with 27 seconds left to close the gap to 24-23, PAT pending.
• The Chiefs continue to be the beneficiaries of bad (or biased) officiating.

Throughout the contest, Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor was permitted to get a half-step jump on Tampa’s edge rushers. That’s something that Todd Bowles needed to emphasize over and over to the game officials DURING the game to plant that seed. To expect the refs to call it differently at the end of the game is naïve at best, given the home cooking the Chiefs expect and regularly enjoy.

This is exactly why you go for 2 after the #Bucs scored their last touchdown with momentum. No one can afford to risk losing a coin toss to Mahomes given their experience along with #Chiefs famous home cooking. Just a really bad decision by Todd Bowles. https://t.co/twrGflQgTg

— Tony Lombardi (@RSRLombardi) November 5, 2024

It was a gutty performance from Tampa and one that should have resulted in a dub if not for the play-not-to-lose mentality of their head coach.

The post What’s Up With Roquan Smith? appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/11/05/tltakes/roquan-smith-is-not-the-same/