Marcus Smith has developed into a very good Special Teams player, and as Jerry Rosburg has indicated, John Harbaugh, a former Special Teams coach himself, places a very high emphasis on Special Teams.

As I have previously acknowledged regarding David Reed, Ozzie Newsome, Eric Decosta, and the rest of the Ravens talent evaluators obviously saw something that they liked in this guy to take him in the 5th round out of Oklahoma State.

The Ravens do not an abundance of young WR’s who are under contract for a few years, and David Reed fits that bill. He can be developed for a year or two, and perhaps be ready to grab some significant playing time when Derrick Mason retires, or when Mark Clayton and/or Donte Stallworth move on to another team.

While both Marcus Smith and David Reed do bring some positives to the field, some of which I just outlined, I am a bit surprised that the Ravens decided to keep both of them over Demetrius Williams.

Demetrius Williams has been much maligned over the last few years here in Baltimore. Injuries have kept him off the field consistently throughout his time with the Ravens, and the immense talent and upside that he has flashed in Training Camp and in practice just has not carried over into the meaningful games.

Last season, the Ravens were struggling mightily with their WR depth, and Demetrius Williams was seemingly healthy down the stretch. In the Monday night Green Bay game last December, Williams came in and quickly stretched the field, forcing interference penalities and providing Joe Flacco that big, athletic target that he has lacked here in Baltimore.

However, he did not get much playing time after that, and he was virtiually non-existent down the stretch as the Ravens made their playoff push. There was talk that he was in John Harbaugh’s doghouse.

For whatever reason, things have just not worked out with Demetrius over the past few seasons.

All of that being said, Williams once again flashed his potential during Training Camp this yaer, and with Donte Stallworth going down for the first half of the season, the Ravens still do not have that big, down the field target. Williams could have been that guy.

I’ve argued that in a year in which it is basically Super Bowl and bust for the Ravens, the tiebreaker for the close roster decisions should go to the player most likely to help this season.

Should Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton, or Anquan Boldin go down early in the season for any length of time, either David Reed or Marcus Smith would be elevated to the #3 WR.

In a year when the Ravens were suppose to feature their most explosive passing attack since the Testaverde days, Demetrius Williams sure could have provided some much needed depth; depth that any legitimate Super Bowl contender, over the course of a 16 game season plus the playoffs, is going to need to play, and also produce.

Hopefully for Ravens fans, David Reed and Marcus Smith can grow up in a hurry. Say what you want about Demetrius Williams, but he has had four years of experience, and he has found some success in spurts throughout his career.

As much promise as the Ravens feel David Reed and Marcus Smith may have down the line, that “down the line” is unlikely to help the Ravens make a run at a Super Bowl this year.

Demetrius Williams could have.

After struggling mightily throughout the first several weeks of the 2010 season, Jones has steadily progressed, and his final numbers will look very nice for a third year guy looking to break out and reach his potential.

I was looking forward to seeing Jones continue to progress and improve under Buck Showalter, while at the same time, staying healthy for the duration of the season.

Adam Jones is approaching a very important time, as he will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this off-season. This is the time that the O’s gave Nick Markakis his six year contract prior to the 2009 season.

Earlier this season, Andy MacPhail indicated that he wanted to see Adam play a full season before he made the decision as to whether he would give Jones a long-term deal.

It is very important for Adam to come back soon, and not let this recent injury bug linger through the end of the season.

The potential for Adam Jones to break out and turn into an elite player is definitely there. However, I think it is fairly clear at this point that even if Jones does not reach his full potential, he will at least be an average CF and an asset on this team going forward. Of course, that is banking on him staying healthy and being able to produce day in and day out both at the plate and in the field.

It will be interesting to see how things develop with Jones. Will he sign a long-term deal if he believes he is set to develop into an All Star caliber player? Will Andy MacPhail and Buck Showalter want to commit to Jones if he continues to be banged up, and ends up not having played a full season in three years?

Jones has done a great job overcoming his tough start, and other than his on-base percentage, his numbers will end up very respectable. Next on the list is getting through a full season without a fairly extended absence.

Adam played 132 games in 2008, and 119 in 2009.

He’s at 125 right now. If he can get that into the 145 range, he will have made yet another stride in his young career.

Buck Showalter is observing and evaluating. Adam Jones needs to get back out on the field, and finish 2010 on a strong note as he heads into 2011.

His prospects of being offered a long-term deal may be dependent on it.

Per My guy, Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network: “The six-time Pro Bowl defensive back will start the season on the Physically Unable to Perform list after not participating during the preseason.”

The 31 year old Reed had reportedly lobbied to return for the start of the regular season after having a torn labrum muscle repaired during the offseason, but the team reportedly won’t back down.

This comes with great surprise and means Tom Zibowkowski will now have to step up. And should know better than to listen to what a loudmouth like Rex Ryan has to say!

John Wilson met with the media for the first time today, and he made no bones about the fact that he wanted to stay in Baltimore for a long time. Josh said the second best thing about coming to the Ravens was that he would be close to home. Find out what Josh feels is the best part of his move to Baltimore. Josh Wilson

Chris Carr shared his thoughts on the Boise State vs Virginia Tech matchup coming up on Labor Day. The Boise State alum said that Boise State is the one team other than the Ravens that if they lose, he hurts. Chris Carr

Dannell Ellerbe spoke up about his play yesterday, and he gave his reasoning as to why he did what he did to evoke John Harbaugh’s ire. Dannell Ellerbe

But what convinced me when was when i asked coach Jon Harbaugh about it,  and he left the door WIDE open, in terms of Ed’s availability without much preparation xoxoxo John Harbaugh on Ed Reed

Is it the prudent thing to do? Perhaps not, there is a LONG, and hopefully playoff filled season ahead. But Ed wants this one and hears Rex and the Jets barking.  We should know for sure on Saturday when all NFL teams have to be at 53 players.  Should be intriguing, to say the least. After all, wasn’t he only 35% just a few weeks ago?

Mark Hendrickson was tagged with the loss in middle relief. Jon Lester, who fell behind 4-1 in the first inning, improved to 13-0 against the Orioles after it was looking like he could finally lose a decision to Baltimore.

Nolan Reimold played his first game since returning from Norfolk and went 1-4 with a strikeout.

Buck Showalter met with the media following the game – hear what he had to say! Buck Showalter

“Believe me, I know the save rule and, quite frankly, it doesn’t carry much weight with me. I like the win rule a little bit better.”

That was in response to Showalter having Mike Gonzalez come in to start the 8th inning and get five outs, only then going to the closer Alfredo Simon to get the final out. Since Simon only faced one hitter with no one on base and a three run lead, he was not credited with a save.

This was quite a change from the “push-botton” managerial style that Dave Trembley and Juan Samuel, not to mention previous managers Sam Perlozzo and Lee Mazzilli, seemed to abide by when they were at the helm.

Trembley would have set, defined bullpen roles, as he believed the pitchers would perform better if they knew precisely what their roles were, and exactly when they should expect to come into the game.

Perlozzo would go to Dannys Baez in the 8th and Chris Ray in the 9th, even if he had a rested Jamie Walker in the ‘pen with three lefties due up that had great splits against right handed pitchers.

I remember a game that I covered on June 27th, when the Orioles defeated the Nationals 4-3. David Hernandez entered in the 8th inning when the game was tied 3-3. Hernandez struck out two batters on a grand total of six pitches. The O’s got a run in the top of the 9th, and Alfredo Simon came in for the save. Fortunately for the Orioles, Simon did go on to earn the save, but I couldn’t figure out why Juan Samuel didn’t leave Hernandez in to finish the game. After all, he clearly had dominating stuff that day, and Alfredo Simon by then was known for taking the team on a roller coaster ride whenever he attempted to close down a game.

I asked Juan at his post-game press conference if he had thought about letting David finish the game. He responded that if the O’s would not have scored, he would have left Hernandez in. But since the Orioles got the lead, he went to Simon.

In other words, it was a save situation, so Juan had to go to his closer; even though his closer was highly unlikely to be as effective as the pitcher he was replacing that had thrown only six pitches.

I wonder what Juan would say to Buck’s above quote. Is it a stretch to say that Juan Samuel’s actions indicated he was more concerned about the save rule than the win rule?

Luckily for everyone who wants the Orioles to succeed and win some ballgames, Buck Showalter has provided a stark contrast to those previous managers. He further supported that notion last night when he went to his closer in the 8th inning, calling on Koji Uehara to get 5 outs to end the game.

When asked about his decision, Buck responded with another gem for those against bullpen roles..

“I’ve been telling you all along, it may not be conventional, but it gives the Orioles the best chance to win there.”

Once again, Buck mentions winning. All this man cares about is winning games. Win, win, win.

Showalter also used Julio Lugo earlier in the season in LF when he wanted to get as many right handed hitters in the lineup as possible. 

Lugo had two of the Orioles’ three hits that day.

That was an out of the box idea. It was unconventional. But he thought it was in the best interest of the Orioles – and he did it.

This guy gets it.

Does John have a problem with going on a road-trip for the 4th preseason game? Will Marc Bulger play at all on Thursday? What is going on with Terrence Cody? Coach Harbaugh addresses these questions and quite a bit more…give it a listen! John Harbaugh

Jerry also caught up with T-Sizzle. Find out why Terrell told Jerry “if you jump off the bandwagon, stay off the bandwagon.” Terrell Suggs