I have so many conflicting feelings.
I mean, I think the nostalgia factor will be enough that I won’t HATE “A Christmas Story Christmas,” but I can’t pretend that the trailer makes me think it was worth doing this or that I believe there will ever be a time when I choose to watch it again or anything like that. I think I’d rather it just didn’t exist.
I have other conflicting feelings, though. For example, I’m quite conflicted about the Ravens’ activity at the NFL trade deadline as well. There’s nothing not to like about acquiring inside linebacker Roquan Smith. He’s a game-changer. There are only so many football players of this caliber that ever become available. And the price was stiff but reasonable. We’ve all done the math. Either the Ravens re-sign Smith long term and have one of the best defensive players in football or they’ll get a third-round compensatory pick for him, making the risk one worth taking.
The Ravens are a better football team with Roquan Smith. He’s not just a tackler. He’s a wrecker. He’s a difference-maker. He’s a massively impactful football player and … he’s not a wide receiver.
Therein lies the rub, right?
It doesn’t feel like many Ravens fans are being completely dismissive of the Smith acquisition, but the whole “not a wide receiver thing” has definitely been a shared sentiment from more than a few. I’m not sure if it’s a fair criticism, however. As much as another receiver could have helped the Ravens, was there even a deal to be made?
There were only two receivers actually traded this week. One was Calvin Ridley. I can’t pretend as if the conditional price the Jaguars paid isn’t a price I would have been willing to consider for Ridley. But I have to acknowledge that it is seemingly impossible to think that a team in “win-now” mode should be moving assets for a player that, you know, CAN’T help them win the Super Bowl. The other receiver dealt, of course, was Chase Claypool. The likelihood of Pittsburgh being willing to deal Claypool within the division is about the same as the likelihood of Aaron Judge being in an Orioles uniform next season.
Former Maryland receiver DJ Moore was the object of many Ravens fans’ desires but was never truly a viable target. The Panthers want to find a quarterback next year. It didn’t make sense that they would choose to give up an upper-echelon receiver for that future quarterback without getting some sort of extraordinary, unreasonable compensation.
Is it possible the Ravens didn’t prioritize defense over offense but instead made the only reasonable deal they could make that would provide an indisputable lift to their Super Bowl chances? A source with knowledge of the Ravens’ decision-making told me that the team did explore the receiver market both before and after the Smith trade. That source couldn’t provide any specific information on why no deal came together.
Yet this remains conflicting because even if a receiver trade might have required an unreasonable price, I can’t say with certainty that it isn’t worth drastically overpaying to try to address the biggest area of concern on your roster as you pursue a championship.
Our complaint isn’t really about the Ravens not acquiring a receiver at the deadline, it’s about how the franchise has handled the position on the whole. They wouldn’t need to overpay for receiver help if they had previously paid the correct amount for receiver help! The need is worsened by Rashod Bateman’s injury, but even if Bateman were playing in New Orleans on Nov. 7, we’d still think they could use an upgrade.
Adding to my conflict, the Ravens offense is … actually very good. They’re the No. 5 scoring offense and No. 2 DVOA offense in the NFL. Their last half of football was the best half they’ve played all season, recommitting to Greg Roman’s familiar run-heavy offense. If the Ravens are planning on recommitting to that type of offense, I don’t think we could defend drastically overpaying for a receiver.
And yet, even if the Ravens can turn back the clock to 2019 during the rest of the regular season, I’m STILL not certain that whenever the Ravens are eliminated, we won’t find ourselves saying, “If only they had added one really game-changing receiver.”
(OK, let’s be fair. We’re going to blame the offensive coordinator. It’s what we do. It’s in our blood. We put Old Bay on everything, we own 100 different articles of clothing in state flag patterns and we hate the offensive coordinator, even when the offense is good.)
But all of this leads me to feel more conflicted than when UConn tried to force a rivalry game with UCF. I’m worried about the receivers. But I think the Ravens are playing well enough offensively (despite our concerns at the position) to give themselves a chance.
And I love Roquan Smith. I can’t say that enough. They should cancel the new Christmas Story and just make a movie about him.
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