ExtremeRavens Posted May 13 Posted May 13 Ronnie Stanley has always been introspective, if not equanimous. He has also endured excruciating injury during his nine-year Ravens career. Those two facts merged in a revealing essay by the left tackle for The Players’ Tribune that was published on Monday. Stanley opened up with new details about the 2020 ankle injury that ended his season and led to further complications. The former All-Pro also wrote about a terrifying accident that he was involved in as a 14-year-old, and on a lighter note, touched on his rescue dogs, Lola and Rico, and his relationship with quarterback Lamar Jackson. It was Jackson, of course, whom Stanley was blocking for in the first quarter of a Week 8 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers five years ago when Stanley’s ankle got rolled up from behind by T.J. Watt, sending him to the M&T Bank Stadium grass in agony. It also turned out to be more than just a dislocated ankle, with Stanley, 31, writing that he also broke his leg on the play. “I basically tore up everything in my ankle besides my deltoid ligament,” he wrote. “They put me in a cast from my hip to my toes. Couldn’t bend my knee for three months. I couldn’t even sit in a car. I had to lie in the backseat if I wanted to go anywhere. “Pain meds were the only thing allowing me to get some sleep, especially early on. I could feel the eight staples in my leg rubbing against the cast every night.” Stanley returned to training camp the following summer, but wrote that he still wasn’t feeling right. The pain was so intense, Stanley said, that it elicited tears as he came off the field for drives in a Week 1 game against the Raiders in his hometown of Las Vegas. His play was poor and Baltimore struggled, too, losing 33-27 in overtime. After the game, an MRI showed that he tore his deltoid ligament. But because doctors weren’t certain that it was completely torn, Stanley said, he underwent rehab for several weeks while he was inactive for the next five games. Finally, he underwent surgery and didn’t play again until Week 5 of 2022. It also wasn’t the first time he dealt with a severe injury. As a teenager, he said the Can-Am Defender (essentially a “souped-up” golf cart) that he was riding in in his neighborhood flipped and landed on him. “Before I could even blink, I’m laying in the road, blood everywhere,” he wrote. “I knew the whole right side of my body was crushed. I could actually see the bone sticking out of my arm. Neighbors heard the crash, called the ambulance, and came to help. I was getting really sleepy at one point. But everyone kept telling me that, no matter what, I needed to stay awake until the ambulance came.” Stanley spent a week in intensive care and said he was “pretty broken” but that doctors told him the next day if the cart had landed a few inches to the left, it would have crushed his head. After the accident, Stanley’s parents got him and his two siblings two dogs. That “jump started” his interest in animals, and his current two dogs provided “a huge source of comfort and unconditional love that made all the difference on a daily basis,” he said, as he battled injuries and the mental anguish that went with him during his professional career. He also leaned on Jackson. “There were other guys who had my back, too,” he said. “But 8 always had my back. I’ve never met a more authentic person in the NFL. He’s the face of the franchise and has all the pressure in the world on his shoulders. He’s got every incentive to just be a Company Man, and instead he comes in every day like his genuine self. Not trying to fit any mold, an elite competitor with that childlike joy for the game. I love it.” Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley, left, wrote that quarterback Lamar Jackson is one of the most authentic people he knows in an essay for The Players' Tribune. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff file) All of it played a part. Last season, after taking a $7.5 million pay cut to remain with the team following a poor 2023 season and in the final year of his contract, Stanley returned to form. The Ravens went 12-5, won the AFC North, put up historically great numbers on offense, and he was selected to the Pro Bowl. That led to Baltimore re-signing Stanley for three years and $60 million just before the start of free agency. “If you’re reading this, and you’re feeling really empty, just know that there’s a lot of people out there who know and understand what you’re going through and how you’re feeling,” Stanley wrote. “I don’t have any magic words for you to make you feel better. But if you really want to find purpose, I truly believe that a good first step is to stop being afraid to look stupid, or being afraid to fail. In whatever you do in life, do it with confidence and belief in yourself that you can be great. You can even be the best! Why not you?” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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