Marcus Peters Opens Up About Self-Doubt and More
Cornerback Marcus Peters is a passionate player who wears his heart on his sleeve on the field, but he has never been overly enthusiastic about doing interviews with the media.
However, Peters recently talked at length with The Ringer’s Logan Murdock — who has known the three-time Pro Bowler since they first met during a tryout for a local youth football team in Oakland — and opened up about a variety of topics.
"He's spent a lot of time with his own thoughts," Murdock wrote. "Now he wants to share them."
Here are some of Peters' quotes from the in-depth article:
Dealing with the loss of his grandmother last fall as he was beginning his rehab from the torn ACL injury that ended his 2021 season before it started: "You'll never know what people really be going through while they're dealing with s—. You know what I'm saying? Because I thought it was just going to be ... 'I'll rehab this leg. S— going to get better,' but then that s— hit me. Man, it just ... I wouldn't say I went dark, bro, but I just stopped expressing myself so much about certain things and just held onto it."
Doubting himself this season: "I'm stuck in this situation of I'm second-guessing myself. I circle the right answer every time, and then I go back, and erase it, and double-check it to see if I got the right answer. For me, I just know I got more, so it's just kind of ... I don't know. Self-doubt is realer than a b----."
What he told the Ravens regarding his reputation for being a distraction when he arrived in 2019 after being acquired in a trade with the Rams: "I told all of them … 'I'm here to find a place to be. And what y'all need me to do? Just let me know, and I'll get it done the best of my ability. You feel me? If we can't ... If I ain't getting it done to the T of what you guys want, let's talk about it, find ways to where we can adjust, and we can get it done that sort of work for both of us."
The Ravens organization accepting him: "I just think they just respect me as Marcus Peters. We know what we hear about him, but the dude we run into every day ain't that. You know what I'm saying? They rock with that all day, every day, and they know once we all ... I think pretty much everybody know once we hit the field, man, what type of situation they getting from me, and I think they love it, man. They say it fits the Raven way."
What motivated his heated exchange with Head Coach John Harbaugh in the Bills game after the Ravens attempted (and failed) to score a touchdown on fourth down at the 2-yard-line rather than try a field goal with the score tied late in the fourth quarter: "I think the biggest thing for us as a team is that I hate the fact that we get looked at as Lamar and the Ravens. I love the s— out of Lamar … I love the s— out of him, man, and I just hate that. I hate that that much pressure can be on one person, man, and the rest of the team. Just sometimes you get caught looking from the outside in, but no. I let him know all the time, man, 'We out there with you.' We got to play our part at that point of time in-game, man. It was our duty to go stop [them]. I wanted that to be on us."
Being a free agent after this season: "I want to stay. I think that it'll be the best thing for me to end up here. So I wouldn't go nowhere else, but I ain't tripping. I'm really trying to just focus on winning this year, bro, and I'm going to take the offseason as it comes. If we get some things done, and it works out for both sides, then I'm going to knock it out."
Writer for The Athletic Not Confident in Ravens' Chances in Postseason
The Athletic's Mike Jones divided 10 contending teams into three tiers in terms of confidence level. The Ravens landed in the "worrisome" category.
"As always, Lamar Jackson has a tremendous amount of pressure riding on him. He's on pace to set a personal record for passing yards in a season, but lately, the Ravens offense has seriously lacked potency. Baltimore struggled to put the Panthers away, and couldn't finish drives against the Jaguars and lost," Jones wrote. "In the last three games, the Ravens have scored touchdowns on just 38.46 percent of their trips into the red zone. That's the fourth-lowest in the league. They have struggled to keep Jackson's top supporting cast members on the field, and Jackson himself left practice early Wednesday with a quadriceps injury.
"Perhaps Sunday's date with Denver will help reignite things. But then comes a five-game jaunt that includes two meetings with the Steelers, who always play the Ravens tough; and the season finale at Cincinnati, which could challenge for the AFC North title."
Only four teams earned votes of confidence: the Eagles, Chiefs, 49ers, and Vikings.
Ravens Select Deep-Threat Wide Receiver, Elusive Running Back in Separate Mock Drafts
The Ravens have selected a wide receiver in the first round in two of their past four drafts, and CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson has them doing it again in his mock draft.
Wilson mocked Tennessee's Jalin Hyatt to Baltimore with the 27th-overall pick.
"Hyatt wasn't in the first-round conversation heading into the season but he's a great example of a player taking advantage of his opportunities, thanks in large part to [Tennessee quarterback] Hendon Hooker's Heisman Trophy campaign," Wilson wrote. "Hyatt is a bona fide deep threat who consistently stacks defensive backs who have been helpless to do much about it all season."
Wilson ranked Hyatt as the No. 1 wide receiver in the draft and 15th-best overall prospect. The speedy junior has 67 catches for 1,267 yards and 15 touchdowns this season.
The Athletic's Dane Brugler's choice for the Ravens in his mock draft is a curious one. He has Baltimore selecting Texas junior running back Bijan Robinson with the 21st-overall pick. Running back is definitely not the first thing that comes to mind when looking at positions of need on the Ravens.
"The Ravens drafted J.K. Dobbins to be a difference-maker in their offense. With his future uncertain because of injuries, Bijan Robinson can fill that void," Brugler wrote. "Using his vision and elusiveness, the Texas product can consistently force missed tackles and offer versatility as a detached wide receiver. Robinson and Lamar Jackson in the same backfield would be a nightmare for defensive coordinators."
Robinson has rushed for 1,580 yards and 18 touchdowns this season.
Former Ravens Trent Dilfer Named UAB Head Coach
Trent Dilfer, the starting quarterback for the Super Bowl-winning 2000 Ravens, was named the University of Alabama-Birmingham head coach yesterday.
Dilfer, who played for 14 years in the NFL, has spent the past four years as the head coach of Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, where he led the Mustangs to the 2021 TSSAA D2-AA State Championship and will again play for the state title today. He has a 43-10 record at the school, including a 25-1 mark the past two seasons.
