With just one play, Steve Smith Sr. showed what he can bring to the Ravens.
In his Baltimore debut, Smith finished with seven catches for 118 yards and a touchdown.
He didn't do it the way many likely envisioned, making tough, chain-moving catches on third down. Instead, he tied a career record 80-yard touchdown.
But Smith showed what he brings at the tail end of that play.
With the Ravens facing a third-and-14 from their own 20-yard line, Flacco scrambled to his left. He motioned for Smith to take off up the sideline and Smith did just that, getting behind Bengals cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones.
Smith cradled in the pass and took off down the sideline. The speedy Jones caught up with the 35-year-old Smith, but Smith stiff-armed him and savagely tossed Jones to the turf before finishing the play in the end zone.
The touchdown gave the Ravens a 16-15 lead with five minutes, 46 seconds remaining. While that lead didn't last long, Smith's stiff-arm and toss will live in Ravens' highlight reels for years.
"Just got to get in there," Smith said. "The AFC North is hard, tough-nosed football as they say. So I'm trying to adapt to that."
Smith wasn't in the mood for patting himself on the back, however.
"Great pass, easy pass to catch," he said of the play. "Actually one that I did catch."
Smith had a pair of drops on the day, which is* *atypical for him. He hardly let any balls hit the turf in training camp.
One came on the Ravens' first drive when the pass was behind Smith but still catchable. The second was in the third quarter when Flacco hit Smith for what could have been a deep play down the middle. Flacco was intercepted on the next play, spoiling momentum and field position gained from a blocked field goal.
"We screwed ourselves receiver-wise as best as we could," Smith said. "We dropped all the 'gimmies,' but we caught all the hard ones."
