Is Bernard Pierce The Odd Man Out In Baltimore?
By Samuel Njoku
A huge game against the Pittsburgh Steelers is forthcoming for the Baltimore Ravens. With the loss against the Bengals in Week 8, they cannot afford to lose a second straight game against a division opponent.
Trade Deadline passes with no moves for Baltimore
The Ravens suffered a huge loss when they learned CB Jimmy Smith would be out for an extended period of time with a foot sprain. Many believed that Baltimore would make an effort to provide depth to the defensive back position with a possible trade. But the trade deadline passed without the Ravens making any kind of move. The Ravens will roll with what they have when they face a Steelers team that just scored over 50 points against a playoff contender.
Baltimore will have Chykie Brown and Domonique Franks starting at cornerback along with Lardarius Webb. You have to believe the Steelers are salivating at the mouth with the opportunity presented to them to really get some things going through the air against a banged up secondary.
Bernard Pierce healthy scratch against Bengals
The Ravens had only 2 running backs active against the Bengals last week, and neither of those players were with the team in 2013. Bernard Pierce was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career. And from the looks of him on the sideline, he wasn’t happy about it. Of course, you don’t want a player on your team that is OK with the notion of not playing football when physically able to do so. But the move made speaks volumes to how well both Justin Forsett and Lorenzo Taliaferro have performed this year. Taliaferro scored two touchdowns on Sunday and Forsett has been one of the better running backs in all of football. Pierce appears to be the odd man out – for now.
Will Hill needs more playing time
There’s something wrong when S Will Hill only gets 12 defensive snaps in a pivotal division game. The Ravens are lacking in talent at the safety position, but it appears as if Hill may be a bright spot on that unit. But for some reason the Ravens gave him a limited number of opportunities to make plays for them. And with the way the safeties performed last week, Baltimore could have used a lot more of Will Hill. Unless the Ravens want to see Antonio Brown run circles around Heinz Field on Sunday night, it’ll be a good idea to get Hill on the field a lot more.
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Samuel Njoku was born and raised in Baltimore, MD and is a graduate of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Samuel has covered the Ravens for Examiner.com since 2010. Prior to 2010, Samuel was an avid blogger and radio personality in Salisbury, MD. Samuel Njoku is a freelance writer covering all things NFL. His work can be found on Examiner.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @Ravens_Examiner.
