Wallace accepting role in short passing game

By Alan Robinson

Mike Wallace’s 51-yard scoring catch Sunday was his ninth of 50 yards or more, or nearly one-third of his 29 touchdowns.

Only this wasn’t a deep ball; it was a shorter pass that Wallace turned into a long one.

“I’m kind of understanding my role in the offense, it’s not just to go deep any more, (it’s) kind of short, and it’s just learning to accept that,” Wallace said. “My history and being the kind of player I am, I like deep plays. But I’ve got to continue staying in the game and, like I said, catch a short one and make it long. That’s going to be my focus for the rest of the year.”

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Wallace has the speed to take that short route to the house. He's proven it more than once.

I think BA, Ben, and Wallace all became enamored with the deep ball that they forgot that taking 15-20 yards a time is what can win the game.

Now with Haley at the helm, Ben and Wallace have learned to play the game differently and it's showing. Now if Wallace will stop dropping the easy ones.

who? what? Tomlin's nic name for Wallace one trick pony. now Wallace has to lose his puss thinking start catching the ball short and over middle where he might get the big hit. yes he has speed but i would like him to prove he has the balls to catch the short and over the middle passes where he might take a good hit instead of running the long routes where he justs out runs the defender.

Wallace its time to become the complete NFL WR if you want the big check. an till then i think you'er fast but soft. prove me wrong.

effyou515 wrote:

who? what? Tomlin's nic name for Wallace one trick pony. now Wallace has to lose his puss thinking start catching the ball short and over middle where he might get the big hit. yes he has speed but i would like him to prove he has the balls to catch the short and over the middle passes where he might take a good hit instead of running the long routes where he justs out runs the defender.

Wallace its time to become the complete NFL WR if you want the big check. an till then i think you'er fast but soft. prove me wrong.

Personally, I want from his is some big-time playoff performances. Brown has made some big-time plays in the playoffs, and it's time for Wallace to follow suit. I don't believe he's the #1 guy right now, and I don't believe he's still opening everything up for Brown as they say so often. He needs to earn the #1 receiver spot and excel at it if he expects more money than what's in Browns pockets, and his chance to prove himself is January of 2013. I believe if he performs well in the playoffs, granted we make it, he deserves #1 receiver money. Unless of course Brown out-performs him.

I see two #1 guys and two #2 guys on our squad. What I mean by that is simple: Wallace could be a #1 guy on some teams, and Brown could be a #1 guy on some teams. Sanders and Cotchery could easily be #2 guys for most teams, and even #1 guys for teams like Cleveland.

"catch" is the operative word in that article. It's time for Wallace to put up or shut up.

Ravens game, week one. Wallace: 107 yards, no scores.
Texans game, week four. Wallace 77 yards, no scores.
Patriots* game, week nine. Wallace 70 yards, no scores. (Brown scores a TD)
Bengals game, week ten. Wallace 54 yards, no scores. (Brown leads team)
Bengals game, week thirteen. Wallace 38 yards, 2 scores.
Browns game, week fifteen. Wallace 57 yards, no score. (Ben goes down, Brown scores a touchdown and racks up 100+ yards)
And the one that matters the most...
Broncos game, playoffs. Wallace 26 yards, no scores. Cotchery, Sanders, Brown and Miller ALL finished above him on the stat sheet.
Lets fast-forward to 2012
Broncos game, week one. Wallace 37 yards, one score. (Brown leads team)
Eagles game, week five. Wallace 17 yards, no scores. (Brown leads team)
Titans game, week six. Wallace 94 yards, one score. (Only one catch outside of the big play)
Bengals game, week seven. Wallace 52 yards, no scores. (LOTS of drops)
Giants game, week nine. Wallace 66 yards, one score. (Nice one, too)
The games NOT listed from 2011 and 2012 are games I honestly feel GOOD teams SHOULD be able to beat, and games that weren't really in question. Hell, I almost didn't add the Redskins game.

Case and point: Twelve games listed above,all played over the course of two years. Wallace has five touchdowns between those twelve games as a #1 receiver, and no touchdowns in playoffs. This is simply data I've collected, and I really have no point of my own. I would like to say that Wallace scores most of his touchdowns in games we're EXPECTED to win as a good team, and a lot of the time, we lose these "easy" games.

In my opinion, the only statistic that truly matters is the playoff statistic, and it isn't pretty. I can accept no touchdowns considering the only passing touchdown scored in the playoffs was to a veteran Cotchery, but the yardage is unimpressive. The number one thing Wallace has over Brown is his touchdown scoring, and most of that comes in games that we're expected to win, and not games we NEED to win. Or games considered TOUGH to win.

I do believe Wallace will preform better in big games this year than last year, though. He needs to.