That’s Steve Smith’s life with the Ravens, though, and he’s carrying the load and somehow managing not to complain. But he needs lots of help, and for now, the Ravens are in no position to give it to him.

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Which explains these two comments from him after Sunday’s loss to the Bengals dropped Baltimore to 0-3, with a trip to Pittsburgh coming Thursday:

On whether losing, especially the way they’ve lost, is frustrating: “No, losing is not frustrating, losing pisses me off, to be honest. … I don’t care if it was my first year, it doesn’t matter.’’

On how he and the team recover in a short week: “We gotta put our tissues away and go out there and get ready to practice and play.’’

Once the tissues are away, though, nothing would help the Ravens more than helping Smith. On Sunday, Flacco targeted him 17 times, with 13 catches for 186 yards, two second-half touchdowns and huge conversions on third and fourth down.

The total targets for the other three wide receivers, Marlon Brown, Michael Campanaro and Kamar Aiken: eight, with four catches. For the season, those three have been targeted 25 times combined, Smith 40 times by himself.

Those numbers do not include first-round pick Breshad Perriman, who sprained a knee ligament early in training camp and only started practicing again last week. (UPDATE: Perriman reinjured the knee before Sunday’s game and had surgery Thursday. He is out indefinitely.) Until he’s back, or unless the other receivers become threats and take the heat off of Smith soon, everybody in the stadium each week knows who Flacco is looking to first.

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Despite that, and despite the Ravens’ running game stalling so far, Smith is still driving the Ravens by force of will. Going into Monday, his 25 catches were fifth in the NFL; his 349 yards were third, his seven catches over 20 yards trailed only Larry Fitzgerald. He’s had back-to-back games of 10 or more catches for the first time in his long career.

Among the wideouts in the season they turned 36 who never put up stats as good as Smith’s against the Bengals: Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Cris Carter, Terrell Owens, Art Monk, Marvin Harrison, Irving Fryar and Reggie Wayne.

Still, counting on Smith to be a one-man offense is not what the Ravens want or need.

“The issue is, when we have Steve, you can’t not find ways to get him the ball,’’ Flacco said. “A lot of the plays in our game plan, you say, ‘OK, let’s make them for Steve,’ because he’s really good. We have the other guys that can make plays. We just have to keep feeding them the ball and let them do their thing.’’

Smith, of course, does his thing no matter who is or isn’t taking the heat off of him and whatever defenses know before the snap.

“This may be one of the best years that I’ve seen him since I’ve been in the NFL," Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick said. “The guy’s playing out of his mind. He wants the ball. He wants the contact. He’s very physical."

Ideally, though, the Ravens will get someone else the ball more, and give Smith less of the contact he wants. When it does, he’ll experience less of what … ticks him off.