Yesterday a frustrated Mike Wallace playfully joked with the media that he felt that he has not been getting the ball enough, despite the Baltimore Ravens' great start to the season. The receiver spoke candidly in the locker room about his lack of production and his need for more targets.
Wallace's season not going as envisioned
Despite the Baltimore Ravens' surprising 2-0 start to the season, the 31-year-old wide receiver Mike Wallace is off to the worst start of his career. Through two games, he only had two catches for 15 yards, putting him on pace to finish the season with 16 catches for 120 yards.
He also ranks sixth on the team in targets, having only gotten four so far this year.
Wallace, who has never been shy about expressing his frustration with a lack of targets, made it known to the media yesterday that this was not how he envisioned his season starting -- especially coming off of his first 1,000-yard season since 2011 back when he was with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Wallace says he 'needs the rock'
The receiver gave an animated, yet playful message with a smile on his face inside the locker room. Wallace made it very clear that he “needs the rock," which he repeated seven times during his brief four-minute chat with reporters. He made remarks about how, as a receiver, you are “tempted to throw your helmet” if you do not get passes thrown your way.
Wallace also emphasized that his job is to catch the ball and that he doesn't “play to block.” Wallace said that he talked to coaches about it and made a point to that say that it is still early in the season. He also added that it is fine since they are winning: “It's always masked when you're winning.”
Ravens games have not needed much passing
Through the first two games, Joe Flacco has completed an NFL worst nine completions to his wide receivers, so it is not like Wallace is the only one not getting the ball thrown his way.
For the season, Flacco has 34 completions, with only Tyrod Taylor (33) and Blake Bortles (31) having less among quarterbacks who have started two games. At halftime, the Ravens have been up 17-0 and 21-7 this year, meaning there has been less reason to throw the ball a lot in the second half of games with such a huge lead.
Flacco did say that he has talked to Wallace about the number of passes thrown his way in recent days. The quarterback said that he knows that his skill players want to have the ball in their hands but he also said that “at the end of the day, Mike knows how it is.”
