Steve Smith’s Career Possibly Over After Ravens Receiver Tears Achilles

Kamar Aiken will now be the team’s No. 1 wide receiver, and the recently acquired Chris Givens will have no choice but to assume a bigger role in the Ravens offense.

The win snapped a three-game losing skid for the Ravens and improved their overall record to 2-6. Carolina fell to the Seahawks in the NFC championship game that year, and the only way that happened was for Seattle to employ a “box-and-one” coverage on Smith-basically employing anywhere from two to four defenders against him on any given play.

“It feels good”, Flacco said “We don’t make it easy”.

Smith scrambled his way through the Detroit defense for a few big plays, including a career-high 49-yard run in the second quarter that set up his 12-yard touchdown run.

“We have a lot of games left”, Rivers said. The last team to start 2-5 and make the playoffs was the Denver Broncos led by Tim Tebow in 2011.

“I would have wished that I would have been afforded the opportunity to be given a heads-up by our GM and also with coach [Ron] Rivera”, Smith told WBT-AM in Charlotte on February 26 of that year. “There’s just no easy solution”.

Both injuries came not long after the Chargers took a 23-16 lead following a 70-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Phillip Rivers, his third touchdown pass of the game.

But the team also got the last stop of the day, turning that into Justin Tucker’s fifth field goal of the afternoon. LG Orlando Franklin (ankle) was inactive; LT King Dunlap limped off with an ankle problem in the first quarter and was replaced by Chris Hairston, who briefly left the game with a knee injury but returned.

“When we’re just trying to win the game, we’re getting as close as we can”, Tucker said. “We just have to knock it down when we get the opportunity”.

Since 2000, Baltimore is 67-3 when garnering a plus-2 turnover ratio in a game.

Rivers made it 10-6 with a 9-yard pass to Floyd before Flacco put Baltimore back in front with a 3-yard throw to Crockett Gillmore.

Rivers began the ensuing drive with a 26-yard pass to Danny Woodhead, and the Chargers pulled even on a 49-yard field goal from Josh Lambo with 2:07 remaining. This could have been yet another one-possession loss, but despite more adversity, this fourth quarter would belong to the Ravens. “We’re doing all the proper things”. He missed one game earlier this season after suffering four microfractures in his back. Ravens LT Eugene Monroe (shoulder) was scratched after leaving the Monday night game against the Cardinals. After being released from the Panthers following the 2013 season, Smith latched on to the Ravens, where he enjoyed a wildly successful 2014 campaign of 79 catches for 1,065 yards and six touchdowns, including a vengeful 10-catch, 139-yard, two-touchdown effort against his former team in a Week 4 win.