Steve Smith Prepares For Carolina Panthers, Who Aren’t Focused On Him

Sep 11, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. (89) high fives fans after beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-6 at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to Lunchtime Links, where we round up all the latest Ravens news from around the web for your convenient consumption.  Today we have a Steve Smith extravaganza including why the Panthers aren’t that focused on the mercurial receiver, John Harbuagh’s advice for Sunday, plus we look at how the Ravens will fill the void left by Dennis Pitta’s season ending injury.

Steve Smith prepares for Carolina Panthers, who aren’t focused on him

We already know that Steve Smith is amped up for week four’s matchup against the Carolina Panthers, which he has likely had circled on his calendar since he signed with the Ravens.  He feels slighted by the team he gave his heart and soul to for over a decade, and he understandably wants to prove that they made a mistake in releasing him before he was washed up.

But will he be able to contain himself enough to avoid drawing penalties or getting into fights?  That is the big question.  We all want Smith to prove his value on the field, but he is an emotional guy.  And that’s a notion that John Harbaugh is very aware of.  “My advice to Steve will be, ‘Shock the world. Surprise everybody. Don’t even say a word the whole game. Go into a shell,’” Harbaugh said at Monday’s press conference. “But I don’t think he’s going to take that advice.”

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Whether or not Smith takes Harbaugh’s advice is very questionable, but we do know that his “revenge” game is going to be the big story of the week.  But as David Newton at ESPN points out, the Panthers are not going to be nearly as concerned about Smith as he is about them.

“Steve’s playing very well for them, but this is going to be the Carolina Panthers versus the Baltimore Ravens,” Carolina coach Ron Rivera said on Monday.  Defensive coordinator Sean McDermont added, “I haven’t watched any tape of Steve Smith yet.”

To which I say, really?  I understand the idea of preparing for the entire team instead of focusing on the one player the media is going to make a circus of, but this is the leading receiver on the opposing team.  Surely they might want to look into that.

Marlon Brown to pick up snaps?

We have speculated in recent days that the Ravens will run more three wide receiver sets following the loss of Dennis Pitta, and Chuck Mills at Baltimore Beatdown feels like Marlon Brown should be the guy to pick up snaps.  We wholeheartedly agree, in spite of Brown’s poor performance in limited work this year.

Jacoby Jones is not the answer, and we’ll touch base on that in tomorrow’s feature (spoiler alert!).  Brown had an excellent year last year after being thrust into a big role, and he is if nothing else a red zone threat.  Perhaps we will see more of Kamar Aiken as well, but he failed to impress as the preseason wore on as well.  One thing is for sure, and that is we won’t be seeing as many two tight end sets going forward.