WASHINGTON — With the Redskins home licking their wounds from a primetime Thursday night beat down, Sunday in the D.C. area belonged to Steve Smith and the Baltimore Ravens.
It was a game we all had circled on the calendar. Smith was unceremoniously (and somewhat unexpectedly) released by the Carolina Panthers in the offseason, and Smith told the media there would be “blood and guts everywhere” if he saw his former team on the field in 2014. So when the Ravens quickly moved to get him in purple and black, we knew to have the goggles ready in Week 4.
Anyone who’s followed Smith’s career knew why he’d be such a great fit in Charm City: the dude is just flat out nasty. He started his career at a small college before transferring to Utah, where he gained enough Division I attention to get selected in Round 3 of the 2001 NFL Draft. He was little more than a return man his rookie year in Carolina before working his way up to the starting spot — and eventually, the franchise record in just about every statistical category for a receiver.
So claiming Smith has played his whole career with a chip on his shoulder is not only clich
