Ray Rice Didn’t Waste Any Time Forgetting About His Costly Fumble

Ray Rice Didn’t Waste Any Time Forgetting About His Costly Fumble

Ray Rice had carried the ball 331 times without fumbling when he coughed it up in the second half of a playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in January. The miscue was one of many for the Ravens in that second half collapse that allowed the Pittsburgh Steelers to move on to the AFC Championship Game and then later the Super Bowl. But Rice says it didn’t take him long to forget about it. Like a quarterback having to shake off an interception, he said he had to do the same with his fumble. Of course, there’s been plenty more to think about during this lockout that has taken his mind away from that blunder. Like an 18-game season, for instance, that is one of the many sticking points in the lockout. Rice says he’s not all that worried about that, but moreso that he just gets to play football at all. Ray Rice joined WFAN with Boomer and Carton to discuss what the Ravens have been doing practice-wise, how he keeps up to date on the lockout situation, the potential for an 18-game regular season and forgetting the fumble in the playoffs.

Have he and the Ravens players got together for practices?:

“Yeah we’ve gotten together at Towson University. It was very constructive, led by myself, Derrick Mason, Anquan Boldin. We had about 30, 35. We’ve done it once for a week. I think it was constructive for us. One thing about our team is the timing on offense. We’re not putting in a whole new offense or whole new defense. Our thing is just going to be timing and I say we need training camp for about two weeks of timing.”

Are the player reps keeping him up to date on what’s going on with the lockout?:

“The communication, a lot goes through email. I’ll get letters, articles, and they’ll keep you abreast of what’s going on. … I don’t get into the negotiations and what they’re doing. But I’m a very optimistic person that they’re going to get it together; there’s going to be football. … It’s right around the corner. This is my phase of working out that I’m going to be ready for the 2011-2012 season.”

His thoughts on a potential 18-game season:

“For a guy like me, you really just want to play football, but 18 games is a lot. It’s hard on a body. It’s one of them things where, if that’s what they want and they’re going to get it, then I’m not going to fight it.”

How long did it take him to get over his critical fumble against the Steelers in the playoffs?:

“I have a short memory. As a running back you have to have a short memory. You look at where you came from and look at where you’re going and you can’t tarnish your whole career over one mistake. It’s the same thing for a quarterback. A quarterback throws an interception, he has to get over it the next drive. … It wasn’t one of those situations where you see me getting laid out. It was a situation where the guy, it was a perfect tackle and I was in a cut. Sometimes when you cut … the ball comes away from your body. … As a player, you’ve got to have a short memory.”