Ray Rice “Not Bothered” Splitting Carries With Bernard Pierce
By Mike Dyce
Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice is used to being the lone wolf in the backfield. Down the stretch though, rookie Bernard Pierce gave the Ravens running game a little extra boost. In 2013 the Ravens are floating the idea of Rice and Pierce splitting carries that will “balance out that distribution.”
“Sharing touches aren’t something that bother me because I know, when it comes down to crucial situations, I’ll be in the game,” Rice told “NFL AM” on Tuesday. “There’s not one running back that takes it all. There’s a few — Adrian Peterson and a few other guys — but Bernard’s a great backup, and he’s a great runner.”
In the first half of the season Pierce got 30 carries. That number more than doubled in the last half of the season, jumping to 78 carries. That included 36 carries for 212 yards in the last two weeks of the season. In the playoffs Pierce ran for 202 yards off 29 attempts over 4 games.
Ray Rice said that Pierce had “a different skill set,” saying, “We’re totally different backs. … Going into our game plan, it’s hard to prepare for, you know, two guys that can come at you, rather than one.”