Mike Wallace played well against the Colts last night and has been a steady presence in Baltimore’s receiver corps this season. His teammate, Breshad Perriman, fails to qualify even as mediocre in either of those sectors. Perriman was drafted to be Torrey Smith’s heir, to be the main downfield threat for the Ravens. Despite his talent, Perriman has failed to succeed in the NFL. Perriman never stepped on the field his rookie season, as a lingering knee injury sidelined him all season. His defacto rookie season came in 2016 when Perriman finally saw some action. The season wasn’t great for Perriman, as he only found 499 yards. Although Perriman saw little production in 2016, he, the team, and the fans all expected him to break out during the 2017 campaign. Perriman shattered these expectations.
Perriman shattered expectations, but not in a good way. Perriman went from receiving the ball for just under 500 yards to only 77 yards. With one game to go, it’s not likely that Perriman will even reach 100 yards on the year. This season has been nothing short of a disaster for Perriman, who had a chance to shine. For most of the year, Baltimore’s passing game was missing a receiver to be a dependable target. Perriman was unable to capture the role. So far this season, Flacco targeted Perriman 34 times. Perriman only caught 10 passes. The drops and the miscues have repeatedly injured the offense, and Perriman is the only one to blame for his mistakes.
Last night, the crowd at M&T Bank Stadium erupted into sarcastic cheers when Perriman caught two passes. Perriman was apparently unaware what the Bronx cheers meant, as he said, “I didn’t know what the cheers were for, I didn’t know if they were good or bad. So I can’t be mad.” While Perriman himself had no problem with the fans expressing their displeasure, his teammate Mike Wallace did.
“That [bleep] is disrespectful,” Wallace said. “I don’t agree with that. I would have flipped them the bird, everybody, if that was me. I’m happy he’s not like me. I would have turned around and flipped the bird to the whole stadium. That’s just me. I don’t care who likes it or how they feel. That’s disrespectful. They’re acting like he’s trying to have bad games. That’s the nature of the business though. To me, I feel like it was disrespectful, but you can’t get too caught up into it.”
I understand where Wallace is coming from. Nobody wants a teammate, or a friend, to be disrespected. The fans, however, have a right to voice their opinion, and the Bronx cheer is just a form of that. Perriman has dissatisfied the Ravens fan base. Perriman’s intent is obviously not to make Baltimore disappointed, but that is what is happening. Perriman is paid big money to produce for the Ravens, and he has yet to do so. As long as Perriman continues to fail, there is no room to denounce what the fans think about or say about him as a football player.
