Ray Rice: “The great thing about football is we can look back at the last three weeks, the last three games that we lost and say these three plays are the reason why.”
October 26, 2009 – 5:00 am by Michael Bean
The Baltimore Ravens may have lost three straight games to fall to 3-3, but they’ve found out what they have in 2nd year running back Ray Rice. The former Rutgers standout has 441 yards on just 73 attempts, good for 6 yards per pop. Perhaps more impressive is the acumen he’s displayed in the passing game. Rice has 33 receptions after last week’s 10 catch game against the Vikings. All told, the shifty yet tough back has made quite an impact for Cam Cameron’s offense in Baltimore. During his week off, Rice joined Boomer and Canton in studio at WFAN in New York to talk about his individual success and what he and the team is working on to get ready to get back in the win column when they return to the field next weekend against the undefeated Denver Broncos.
On what teammate Ray Lewis said to him last year when he was drafted
“He said yards come north and south, you know. East and west don’t make it in the National Football League.”
On if he was aware of how good a game he was having last week when it was going on:
“You know it’s like a basketball player when he gets hot. It’s like a groove, you get in to a groove as a football player. And I’m sure Boomer can attest to this, you’re just out there throwing the ball, it feels like you got their defense down pat. They run a pretty standard defensive front. They’re a great defense, but I felt like our offensive coordinator did a great job of finding spots where we can get in open space and make plays. You know, that’s definitely something as a running back where whether I’m catching the ball 10 times or running it 15 times, after I get the ball in my hand, you know, technically I’m a running back.”
On what the Ravens need to do to get back on track, particularly on defense where they struggled mightily against the Vikings:
“I think that’s why this BYE Week came at a perfect time honestly. You know, because when you need to get the wrinkles done, you do it during the BYE Week and you get away from it. But I think the little things that need to be worked on, we can say, you know the great thing about football is we can look back at the last three weeks, the last three games that we lost and say these three plays are the reason why. You know, it gets frustrating if this pattern continues but this is a time when you get away from it. You know, if we were 6-0 right now, I’d still say we have things to work on. So we can look back at these last three weeks, it’s not like we’re getting blown out of the stadium.”
Listen here to Rice with Boomer and Carton on WFAN in New York
Tags: Baltimore Ravens, best young running backs in NFL, Ray Lewis, Ray Rice, Week 7 NFL, WFAN
