The Ravens have been completely devastated by injuries this season.
Yet, they are still 8-4 and are in first place in the AFC North. The Ravens also have the luxury of controlling their playoff destiny.
The Ravens now have 17 players on Injured Reserve. Of those players, seven are starters, including three former Pro Bowlers.
Coach John Harbaugh has always been defiant in the face of adversity and he’s prepared to compete hard with the players available to him.
“I’ve been through this enough. I mean everybody in their life … You sit here, and you’re a football coach; these are football problems,” Harbaugh said. “People out there face a lot tougher challenges. I’ll say a lot of times that football is a metaphor for life. It’s kind of not … It’s our life, but it’s not life – it’s a metaphor for life.
“Sometimes, I think we can take things from it, like these games that run down to the wire … As Al Pacino said, [and] I kind of talked about it, ‘An inch here. An inch there. A second too early. A second too late,’ it is exactly right. That is like a classic truth about football and as a metaphor for life.”
Ravens currently have $44M+ in Cap space attributed to players on IR. That is just under 1/4 of their Cap counting on IR.
— Brian McFarland (@RavensSalaryCap) December 7, 2021
The Ravens’ secondary and running backs have been hit the hardest.
Cornerback Marlon Humphrey was the latest player to go on IR after tearing a pectoral muscle in a 2019 loss to the Steelers in Week 13. Humphrey was injured trying to tackle Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson on the go-ahead 5-yard touchdown with just under two minutes remaining.
Fellow starting cornerback Marcus Peters had a season-ending knee injury in training camp and has not played a snap after dominating opponents since he came to Baltimore. Starting safety DeShon Elliott is also out for the year with a pectoral/biceps injury he suffered last month.
That leaves safety Chuck Clark as the only remaining starter from last season.
Defensive end Derek Wolfe has not played at all during the regular season because of hip and back injuries.
Baltimore also lost all three of its running backs — J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards and Justice Hill — before the season even began. The Ravens were forced to sign players in the free-agent market and it appears Devonta Freeman has taken over that starting role and has gotten better each week.
“He’s doing great. He’s running, he’s making guys miss,” Harbaugh said about Freeman. “He seems like he’s getting stronger every week. He was strong in the fourth quarter, which was good to see. So, he’s done a great job.”
Coach Harbaugh announces the news to the team 💜#WPMOYChallenge | @BSBoze | @Nationwide pic.twitter.com/ukyo6nLSkU
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 7, 2021
The offensive line has also not been spared. Starting left tackle Ronnie Stanley is out indefinitely with an ankle injury. Right tackle Patrick Mekari has also dealt with a lingering ankle injury.
“We have really good players who can step in and play. We’ll be ready to go,” Harbaugh said.
The Ravens have already pulled off some unlikely wins this season and perhaps there is some magic left in this team. From Justin Tucker’s NFL-record, 66-yard game-winning field goal against the Detroit Lions to four come-from-behind wins when trailing by double-digits, the Ravens have shown they know how to win.
They will look to bounce back from the disappointing loss to the Steelers when they face the Browns this week. The Ravens beat Cleveland 16-10 two weeks ago but the Browns are coming off their bye and had two weeks to make adjustments.
The Ravens will also be forced to make adjustments.
“You know, if you can take some of these things and look at them for what they are and say, ‘Oh, that’s interesting,’ in terms of do I perceive it in a bigger way, like the ball … Like the miracle in Detroit, what does that say? It’s incredible,” Harbaugh said. “Oh, well we didn’t have the miracle against Pittsburgh. What does that mean?’ What does it mean? It means it didn’t happen. So, what’s next? … There’s an old story that [asks], ‘Who is going to go?’ ‘Send me, I’ll go.’ Don’t we all have to make that choice in life? Are you going to go? Or are you not going to go? Kind of ‘woe is me’ to your question, [but] I’m going to go. I know you guys all in your lives feel the same way; you’re going to go.
“So, we’re going to go, man. We’re going to go. We can’t wait. We’ll be going to Cleveland, I promise you.”
