Torrey Smith not feeling any added pressure
By Mike Dyce
The Baltimore Ravens are losing options for franchise quarterback Joe Flacco. They traded away Anquan Boldin, tight end Dennis Pitta suffered a season ending injury. That is going to put a bigger work load on the shoulders of wide receiver Torrey Smith, but he isn’t feeling any extra pressure.
“No, I never feel pressure at all,” Smith said, via Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. “My job doesn’t change. Obviously, I expect more out of myself performance-wise whether they were there or not. It’s tough to lose Anquan. He was the leader of our group. Pitta, it’s an unfortunate injury. We are going to miss him out there. We have a next man up mentality. I think we have some guys who are ready.”
That’s nice and I appreciate the confidence, but maybe he should be worried. In 2012 he caught less than 50% of his targets (49 receptions, 110 targets) for 855 yards.
If he caught more of those passes he’d easily had over 1,000 yards receiving. Running back Ray Rice had more receptions than Smith last year.
Smith doesn’t think Pitta’s injury will change the offense too much.
“I think that it’s kind of overrated,” said Smith. “Pitta was definitely Joe’s security blanket a lot of key points. Someone is down, the next one has to step up. Guys get hurt each and every day in this league.”