Yahoo Finance Marquise Brown seems to call out Ravens offense after he's barely used in loss
The Baltimore Ravens might be 5-2, but there’s trouble brewing on the team’s offense.
Following the team’s 28-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, wide receiver Marquise Brown appeared to call out the Ravens’ offense.
Brown caught just one pass Sunday, and sent out a cryptic message on Twitter indicating he was frustrated with his usage. That message, which Brown quickly deleted, said “what’s the point of having souljas when you never use them (Never!!)”
While Brown finished the game with just 3 yards, his catch made a big impact. With the Ravens trailing by four points in the fourth quarter, Brown hauled in a 3-yard touchdown pass from Lamar Jackson to give the Ravens a late lead.
The Steelers battled back, scoring a touchdown with 7:32 left. With the Ravens in catchup mode, Brown did not receive a target on the team’s final two drives. Jackson threw Brown’s way only twice the entire game.
Marquise Brown was a popular breakout candidate in 2020
Despite coming into his rookie season with a foot injury, Brown showed flashes of stardom in 2019. As a rookie, Brown caught 46 passes for 584 yards and seven touchdowns. Even bigger things were expected of Brown in 2020, when he would be healthy and have more time to develop chemistry with the league’s reigning MVP.
While Brown is on pace to catch more passes and gain more yards in 2020, he has seen his touchdown production decline. Some of that can be attributed to Jackson’s numbers regressing after leading the NFL in passing touchdowns and touchdown rate in 2019. It also doesn’t help that the Ravens are more committed to running the ball than most NFL teams.
Still, when Baltimore throws the ball, Brown doesn’t seem to be a priority. He has received only one game with double-digit targets in 2020. That came in Week 5 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Brown caught six of his 10 targets for 77 yards and a touchdown against the Bengals. It was his best performance of the season.
Whether Brown’s tweet leads to more looks remains to be seen, though airing your grievances publicly is rarely a good strategy. Brown recognized as much, deleting the tweet quickly, but the damage may already be done.
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