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Ray Rice = 2009 Raven Starting RB (1 Viewer)

dmac37

dmac37

Footballguy
After watching the Titan game I believe now more than ever that Rice is the answer at RB for the Ravens. McClain is not going to go away but a feature back in the NFL is not his role. He should have a long career as a bruising short yardage & goal line RB/FB.

I would be shocked if McGahee is back with the Ravens.

Rice should be the every down back on a run heavy offense with McClain being the bruising change of pace short yardage goal line back. Rice is a great inside runner, great vision and footwork and has become a very good receiving back out of the backfield.

Dynasty owners invest in Rice now.

 
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todisco1 said:
Why would you be shocked if McGahee is in Balt next year? He's not a friendly cap cut at all.
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Not so much the money but he just does not seem to be a fit with the coaching staff. A lot of rumblings coming out of Baltimore, where there's smoke there's fire. I could be wrong but either way I see Rice as the future.
 
well since Ray is healthy now and hasn't touched the ball the last 2weeks during the the all important playoffs, yeah your right he's prolly the future :football:

in your eye's i imagine they are just holding him back for the AFC championship and/or Super Bowl. Even tho Ray is a physical runner for his size, this is the Ravens and they will always look to pound the defense as much as possible(which is more inclined to McClain/McGahee). different coach but same management and owners, they did choose to keep Jamal over a more versatile Chester Taylor a few years back. prior to that they went with a young Jamal over a ultra versatile Priest Holmes. Ray will be a COP/compliment

 
Rice needs to show something before becoming a starter in this league. He had a bad rookie year. I hope he does well but his rookie season was nothing short of a mid-tier backup.

 
ninerfanatic492000 said:
well since Ray is healthy now and hasn't touched the ball the last 2weeks during the the all important playoffs, yeah your right he's prolly the future :football: in your eye's i imagine they are just holding him back for the AFC championship and/or Super Bowl. Even tho Ray is a physical runner for his size, this is the Ravens and they will always look to pound the defense as much as possible(which is more inclined to McClain/McGahee). different coach but same management and owners, they did choose to keep Jamal over a more versatile Chester Taylor a few years back. prior to that they went with a young Jamal over a ultra versatile Priest Holmes. Ray will be a COP/compliment
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Agree with this. If he is the future, why is he not involved any at all now. They are playing next week for the opportunity to be in the Super Bowl. Now would seem to be the time.
 
RustyFA2 said:
Rice needs to show something before becoming a starter in this league. He had a bad rookie year. I hope he does well but his rookie season was nothing short of a mid-tier backup.
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:thumbdown: ....especially when you couple this with the fact that Rice has had 0 carries in the last 2 weeks - even though he is allegedly healthy (finally). The other key point I think being missed is that he had a poor debut season because of injury - never a good sign. My point being, even if he had shown (which he really hasn't) that he had more talent than McClain, he has also shown his inability to stay on the field.

Chris Brown, DeShaun Foster, etc. have shown good ability - but it has historically been their lack of ability to stay healthy that has been a larger issue regarding their being full-tiem feature backs. Rice, incidentally, hasn't even shown as much ability as those two have, imho.

 
Admitted Rice homer here, but those of you that are diminishing Rice because he's not playing right now are a little over the top. Rice hasn't played in weeks and McGahee is healthy. Is the playoffs the time to see if he is healthy, especially with the Ravens winning? Implying that he isn't good enough to play is a bit much. It may just be a matter of going with the healthy vets in the playoffs.

As for Rice's performance this year, he's been better statistically than McGahee. Better yards per carry, better receiver, doesn't fumble as much as McGahee. He's also a more physical runner than McGahee. He hasn't gotten any goalline work with the Ravens due to the emergence of McClain, but he as a nose for the endzone.

I'm sure that all three backs will be with the Ravens next year, but you are looking at a full-blown RBBC, and don't be surprised if Rice is the lead ball-carrier.

 
Not sure why he has not received more looks this year. At times he has looked like a rookie and also has looked great at times. Stats below show him on par with the other two and he is the best receiver out of the backfield.

......................att yds avg

Le'Ron McClain 232 902 3.9

Willis McGahee 170 671 3.9

Ray Rice 107 454 4.2

Regardless of this years playoff games, I think he will be the guy next year. In my eyes McClain is not a feature back and McGahee does not seem to be a good fit for the Ravens. Time will tell.

 
Other than Denver's situation, baltimore's use of RBs is the biggest enigma there is. I think it is about impossible to predict now what role (if any) Rice will play next year.

 
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Anthony Borbely said:
I think people are underestimating how much the coaches like McClain.
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This may be true. I have not seen a lot of Raven games but McClain does not seem like a feature back to me, more of a bruiser. In the Titan playoff game he just seemed like a back that could not create anything that wasn't already there and also was a big target easy to track down. I'm sure he has looked a lot better in other games.I could see a RBBC next year with Rice & McClain and Rice being the starter and lead dog.
 
As for the NFL they have nice backs and won't be changing much, look where it's got them, to the AFC title game.

For fantasy let's just say I'm glad I don't own any Ravens rbs, they are on my do not touch list, good luck if you can figure out the hot hand.

 
Has anybody else noticed that McClains heart is much bigger than his brain.

 
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Chachi said:
As for the NFL they have nice backs and won't be changing much, look where it's got them, to the AFC title game.For fantasy let's just say I'm glad I don't own any Ravens rbs, they are on my do not touch list, good luck if you can figure out the hot hand.
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I thought Willis did a very good job finding room against that tough Tenn D yesterday. McClain doesn't do much more than just plow forward to pick up his yards. Why hasn't Rice seen the field AT ALL? Why not a handfull of plays to keep the D guessing? Why did Balt sign Parmalee from the Miami practice squad? Soooo many questions concerning this backfield heading into the future.
 
Scooby1974 said:
Chachi said:
As for the NFL they have nice backs and won't be changing much, look where it's got them, to the AFC title game.

For fantasy let's just say I'm glad I don't own any Ravens rbs, they are on my do not touch list, good luck if you can figure out the hot hand.
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I thought Willis did a very good job finding room against that tough Tenn D yesterday. McClain doesn't do much more than just plow forward to pick up his yards. Why hasn't Rice seen the field AT ALL? Why not a handfull of plays to keep the D guessing? Why did Balt sign Parmalee from the Miami practice squad? Soooo many questions concerning this backfield heading into the future.
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This is what makes picking up Rice a cheap gamble in many dynasty leagues. He was given solid praise coming into the league and when healthy has done pretty well. McClain has shown more than many expected and will likely remain an integral part of the running game. As Flacco matures and the playbook expands for him there will be more room for explosive players like Rice and Demetrius Williams (who has health concerns of his own). I don't think that Baltimore prefers to stay a largely one dimensional team; that is not why they drafted Flacco and his big arm.

 
Great point with regards to giving Flacco more rope and opening up the playbook next year a bit more. I see harbaugh easing the offense open like Shanny has with Cutler.I still think McClain/willis will continue to see the majority of carries unless. Balt moves Willis and brings Parmalee in as Willis's replacement. At this point it is complete guesswork as to who of Willis/McClain/Rice/Parmalee will see the majority of carries. I agree that Balt is the new Denver.

 
i must be watching different games, McClain for his size has very nimble feet(not quite Bettis but still nimble for his size). the announcers even mention this about 8x a game. yes he is a bruiser/pounder mainly, since this is the Ravens thats gonna give him a advantage over rice. he doesn't have great hands but he does catch most throws his way and makes something of them. those abilities with his stellar blocking can and do make him a legit everydown RB.

i know its a fantasy site and rice would be a better fantasy RB(for all Ray Rice owners) but i don't think the ravens care. they want to win and more of McClain/McGahee helps them do so. they are still a ball control offense to go along with there punishing defense. pounders that can atleast fall forward for positive yards and wear teams down late is there MO. Derrick Ward is much more explosive and versatile than Brandon Jacobs but the Giants offense is clearly not as productive without the Big guy moving the chains

 
ninerfanatic492000 said:
i must be watching different games, McClain for his size has very nimble feet(not quite Bettis but still nimble for his size). the announcers even mention this about 8x a game. yes he is a bruiser/pounder mainly, since this is the Ravens thats gonna give him a advantage over rice. he doesn't have great hands but he does catch most throws his way and makes something of them. those abilities with his stellar blocking can and do make him a legit everydown RB.

i know its a fantasy site and rice would be a better fantasy RB(for all Ray Rice owners) but i don't think the ravens care. they want to win and more of McClain/McGahee helps them do so. they are still a ball control offense to go along with there punishing defense. pounders that can atleast fall forward for positive yards and wear teams down late is there MO. Derrick Ward is much more explosive and versatile than Brandon Jacobs but the Giants offense is clearly not as productive without the Big guy moving the chains
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This is true but not having a true receiving threat hurts them. They really could have used Plaxico today to stretch the defense. Jacobs had some nice runs but they couldn't make enough big plays to stay in the game or come back when they had too. I believe that Baltimore is happy to run the ball but having the ability to make plays down field makes them a much more dangerous team. Baltimore was fortunate that Tennessee had big turnovers in key situations due to carelessness with the ball. Baltimore was out played yesterday. The run game was not the magic elixir in that game.
 
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