Smith is certainly not one to drive from a challenge, nor should Ravens feel like they have no right to share the scene with the accounts. Just last season, Baltimore blows Buffalo for 4. Week with a shocking final 35-10 before meeting again in the aftermath. The latter competition caused an irritating loss in what was a great victory for Ravens, wiped away all the meaning of victory in the first season and ended its 2024 campaign on an incredibly sour comment.
“Honestly, the man these boys won the game show and last year’s square, you know it. Eymd sets in all outside of season and you use it as an incentive for all offseason,” said Smith. “So, just knowing that we have everything it takes to be the best team in the NFL. You have to show that game and play out and it will start there in Buffalo. Just like everything we have gone through all the offseason and how it ended, it is just about to get it out of those boys. And I’m sure they have the same plan.”
It is a cliché to suggest a team like Ravens is taking on raw business, but Smith certainly seems to have a vendetta or two in mind when scanning Baltimore’s schedule in May. Just ask him how he feels like he faces his former employer, Chicago Bears, for the 8th week.
“I’m very excited for them, you know,” Smith said. “I have a few kids where I still know, keep up and many of my friends are still in Chicago. So I know many of them are going to be here at the game. There will be one that I look forward to for a moment now.
Smith left Chicago with plenty of hostility after his efforts to negotiate an extension fell on indifferent ears. Finally, Bears traded him to Baltimore in a decent transport and then replaced a year later with the former Bills outstanding Tremaine Edmunds.
As Smith said, he still has friends in Chicago, including some he did not play with in his time in the windy city. But it will not prevent him from dropping his inner animal on them when they meet.
“Every guy who is ranked from me, whether it’s center, runs back – (d’Andre) Swift, it’s my guy in college – or receiver who comes to the middle or dense end, anyone,” said Smith. “So at the end of the day, every single person has to deal with every game.”
Usually, a key player could take a diplomatic approach to discuss the upcoming settlement, especially in May; Just look at Matthew Stafford’s comments on Rams’ outlook on Wednesday to prove. Not Smith, though. If someone sets a tone for Baltimore’s 2025 season, it’s their defender.