ExtremeRavens Posted Monday at 09:29 PM Posted Monday at 09:29 PM Ravens coach John Harbaugh spoke for 31 minutes Monday afternoon in Owings Mills. Questions abounded. About the lack of pass rush. An offensive line that lacks push and has struggled to block. Goal-to-go foibles. A once-Super Bowl favorite is now the antithesis following a disastrous 1-5 start that included a fourth straight loss Sunday in familiarly ignominious fashion, 17-3, to the Los Angeles Rams. What has it been like? “It’s been a test,” Harbaugh said amid a four-minute response. “It’s been a test of faith, your family, it’s a test for your family, a test for everybody in the building.” Now comes a bye week and another attempt to locate the answers. Players will practice Tuesday and Wednesday before having four days off, as required by the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement. Coaches, of course, will spend the entirety of the week at the team’s facility. One problem for them to figure out is, where will the pass rush come from now? Last week, Baltimore traded Odafe Oweh — who registered his first sack of the season on Sunday — to the Los Angeles Chargers in exchange for safety Alohi Gilman. Then, the Ravens lost outside linebacker Tavius Robinson, who broke his foot Sunday and will miss 6-8 weeks, Harbaugh said. That leaves just three outside linebackers (veteran Kyle Van Noy, rookie Mike Green and David Ojabo) on the 53-man roster, with Adisa Isaac, who suffered a dislocated elbow during the Ravens’ second preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys, not expected to come off injured reserve until at least mid or late November. “It’s been a challenge all year to generate pressure, so we’re gonna have to manufacture pressure,” Harbaugh said of a unit that came into the week ranked 16th in pass rush win-rate, according to ESPN analytics. “Our guys are going to have to step up and create pressure on the four-man rush.” It hasn’t happened. Baltimore has just one current defender on the roster (tackle Travis Jones) who ranks in the top 100 in pass rush win percentage, according to Pro Football Focus. The only other player in the top 150 is Van Noy. The Ravens can try to scheme pressure with simulated pressures or actual blitzes, but they have largely not been effective. Still, at this point, they just need healthy players. They have Malik Hamm and Kaimon Rucker on the practice squad, and one or both will get a shot. Or, they could look outside the building, something that Harbaugh said is “certainly” on the table. That might not be the only change. Asked if he is further considering changes on the offensive line, where left guard Andrew Vorhees and right guard Daniel Faalele in particular have struggled, he said, “absolutely.” Of course, he has said that before, and the lineup has remained intact. But a bye week should buy some time to at least experiment. One option could be third-round rookie Emery Jones, who began practicing two weeks ago after missing all of the spring and summer because of shoulder surgery. Harbaugh also said Jones hasn’t been able to work on pass protection because of the shoulder, but they are “trying to get him up to speed as quick as we possibly can.” Other possibilities are second-year Corey Bullock, a former Maryland standout, and veteran Ben Cleveland, though Harbaugh has been reluctant to turn to Cleveland on several opportunities in recent years. Of course, the most significant difference for the Ravens the next time they take the field will be at quarterback, with Lamar Jackson expected back for a Week 8 home game against the Chicago Bears. Without Jackson, who has missed the past two games because of a hamstring injury, Baltimore’s offense has struggled mightily and especially at the unit’s most important position. In his absence, backup Cooper Rush has completed 64% of his passes for 251 yards with zero touchdowns and four interceptions in two starts. Ravens quarterbacks Cooper Rush, center, and Tyler Huntley, right, warm up before Sunday's game against the Rams. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) Asked whether Rush will remain the backup quarterback once Jackson returns, Harbaugh parsed his words. “Is Cooper Rush still the second-string quarterback?” he said, repeating the question as if pondering a response. “I’m gonna say yes. But I will also say we’ve got two backup quarterbacks.” The other is Tyler Huntley, who momentarily injected some life into the offense on Sunday in relief of Rush. But Harbaugh also said there are some roster decisions that have to be made. Huntley has one practice squad elevation remaining. Injury updates For a second straight week, left tackle Ronnie Stanley has either been inactive or had to leave the game early because of an ankle injury, which he did in the second quarter Sunday against the Rams, retreating to the bench, where he sat with a towel over his head for the duration. “It’s structurally good, or he wouldn’t be out there playing,” Harbaugh said. “It becomes a matter of his ability to perform on it, and the only person that knows that is the player; so you’ve got to go by that. But he’s fighting to get out there and play.” When fullback Patrick Ricard began practicing for the first time since mid-August last week, Harbaugh said the target for his return would be the Bears game. Monday, he was a little less definitive about whether the All-Pro, who has been sidelined with a calf injury, would be ready by then. “I don’t know,” he said. “The way it works — the way the injury is — is it’s pretty much recovered from that kind of a standpoint; it’s just a matter of him being comfortable with his level of strength and his ability to perform. It’s him being able to get out there and push himself through practice and feel like it’s going to stay healthy, feel like he can move and run, change direction and power into people.” On a more positive note for Baltimore, Harbaugh said cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who appeared to be banged up Sunday, is physically OK. 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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