What’s A Patrick Ricard Hat Trick? The Ravens’ Two-Way Player Explains

Life’s pretty good for Ravens two-way player Patrick Ricard.

Ricard, the fullback for the NFL’s top rushing offense, was announced as a Pro Bowler at that position Dec. 17. He recently signed a two-year extension worth a reported $7.3 million that’ll keep him in Baltimore through the 2021 season. And after getting engaged last December, he’s set to get married to his fiancée, Hayley, in February. Oh, and his team is 13-2 and has locked up the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

Ricard’s season would’ve been difficult to foresee at this time last year, but Ricard was determined to reestablish his value to the coaching staff. He’s done just that. Through Week 16, Ricard has played 321 offensive snaps, 142 defensive snaps (as a lineman) and 96 special teams snaps.

“Going into the offseason last year, there were talks of the media and the fans having their opinions of myself and my situation here,” Ricard said on Glenn Clark Radio  Dec. 17. “They weren’t even sure if I was going to make the roster coming into the season. So now just fast forward to now, I just signed a two-year extension here. I just had the most [Pro Bowl fan] votes as a fullback in the AFC.

“It’s very humbling, just from where I came from. I came from the University of Maine. I hadn’t played offense since high school. Just the whole development of myself being in the offense and playing the way I do, it’s just a big credit to my coaches here and the organization for allowing me to play both positions and play fullback.”

Ricard, signed by Baltimore as an undrafted free agent in 2017, has become representative of the Ravens’ resourcefulness. He has eight catches for 47 yards and a touchdown. He has nine tackles, a sack and a forced fumble that led to a touchdown for Tyus Bowser in Cincinnati Nov. 17.  He got a piece of a field goal by Sam Ficken that fell short when the Ravens hosted the New York Jets Dec. 12.

That all begs the question: What constitutes a well-rounded game for Ricard? After all, he’s likely to end the season with at least 100 snaps in all three phases of the game. If a Gordie Howe hat trick was a goal, assist and fight, what’s a Patrick Ricard hat trick look like?

According to Ricard, it’d be accomplishing three of the following in a single game:

— Tackle for loss or sack
— Blocked kick
— Touchdown
— First-down conversion
Fullback assist 

What’s a fullback assist? Allow Ricard to explain the term popularized by Barstool podcast “Pardon My Take.”

“Say I lead block at the goal line and Mark Ingram or Gus Edwards scores, then that’s technically a fullback assist,” Ricard said.

Ricard doesn’t love to brag about his best blocks, though. He did, however, make an exception after the Jets game, when he keyed a 15-yard run around the edge by quarterback Lamar Jackson.

“Once in awhile, I can sprinkle it in there because any blocking usually gets overlooked. It’s all about whoever has the ball,” Ricard said. “That’s where all the credit goes to, so whenever I see a good block on social media, sometimes maybe I will repost it.

“It was one of Lamar’s great runs from the game. I know if I retweeted it, it’d be kind of funny. I always try to make it kind of funny because it makes me more acceptable to tweet something like that. It was a great block and a good run, and of course it was Lamar, so I know it was acceptable to do it.”

Ricard’s all-around contributions landed him in the Pro Bowl, which will take place in Orlando Jan. 26. Ricard plans to be unavailable to attend that all-star game, though.

“Hopefully I’ll be in Miami,” Ricard said.

For more from Ricard, listen to the full interview here:

Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox

Luke Jackson

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