If there was a disconnect on short to intermediate passing routes between Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and wide receiver Torrey Smith, Flacco said it no longer exists.
Flacco on Tuesday clarified comments he made to CBS broadcaster Solomon Wilcots, who in calling Sunday's game said the quarterback told him Smith needs to continue working on his underneath routes.
“I think most of what I said, what I said during training camp, was that in the past, a lot of those underneath things in the stop routes, on the sideline, things like that, they were the things that we probably struggled with a little bit," Flacco said Tuesday. "But so far this year, they have been incredible. What I believe, what I probably said or was referring to, is Torrey is a 1,000-yard receiver and he’s a 100-catch guy.
"And the thing that’s going to get him to those 100 catches is going to be it’s not going to be running by guys and catching home runs over the top and all the things that he does really, really well, because he has that talent. It’s going to be those little things."
Smith has always had more value in standard formats than PPR formats because he's not particularly adept at the short stuff. Smith averaged 4.06 catches in 2013 and had three in Week 1. To reach the 100-catch mark, he'll need to average 6.47 receptions in the final 15 games. Considering he only saw seven of Flacco's 62 pass attempts in Week 1, we feel that this mark is a long shot. However, Flacco's insistence is encouraging from the standpoint that Smith should be more involved than he was in Week 1.
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