Ravens 'Welcome' Mendenhall, Who is Out for Season

As I predicted, Steeler Rashard Mendenhall was “welcomed” to the NFL with some hard hitting by the Ravens – so hard, in fact, that Mendenhall is now on the injured reserve list for the rest of the season with a fractured shoulder.

It’s really a shame that this talented rookie will now miss the rest of the year.

It makes you wonder if his big mouth played a part in his injury. Clearly, text-messaging his buddy on the Ravens was a very bad idea.

Plus, Mendenhall wasn’t living up to his own hype.

His numbers weren’t that great, going nine carries for 30 yards, so it really didn’t look like he was going to break 100 yards.

So much for a great night.

I wonder if he and his friend on the Ravens, Ray Rice, are still talking.

One thing Mendenhall needs to learn is that once you make a mistake, tell the truth.

At first, Mendenhall said he didn’t intend for his message to be taken seriously.

Then, on ESPN Monday night, one talking head said that Mendenhall was saying he never sent the message after all. Thus, the talking heads started calling it an “alleged” text message.

Isn’t that childish and a bit beneath contempt?

Now he’s sounding an awful lot like Terrell Owens: make a stupid statement and then back track by lying about it or trying to spin it.

His attempt to lie and spin his way out of the comment fell on deaf ears in Baltimore. For those of you who told me the Ravens wouldn’t need to use it as motivation, get real. You should have heard Bart Scott all day. He clearly was using it as a motivational tool to prepare for the Steelers.

One person even e-mailed me during the first half, chastising me for my headline: “Baltimore Will 'Welcome' Rashard Mendenhall to NFL.”

Although I didn’t hear linebacker Ray Lewis talk about it, I’m sure he was right there with Scott in making an extra effort to make sure that if Mendenhall was going to have a “big night” against the Ravens, he would pay the price in black-and-blue.

And it was Lewis along with Trevor Pryce who hit Mendenhall and sent him to the sidelines for the rest of the season.