When Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey headed to the locker room simply earlier than halftime Thursday night time, tending to a minor hamstring damage, he didn’t like what he noticed.
“I came in and I was like, ‘Crap, this guy is in here, this guy is in there,’” he recalled. Tight finish Mark Andrews had left within the second quarter with a minor shoulder damage. Wide receiver Rashod Bateman had aggravated a foot damage within the first half. Even cornerback Daryl Worley, a particular groups contributor, had jogged off the sector early, too.
That was all the time the chance of the Ravens’ short-week recreation towards the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: With simply 4 days to get well from Sunday’s win over the Cleveland Browns, they’d should play by way of some ache, possibly even topic themselves to extra on a damp night time in Tampa, Florida. “I was like, whatever I can do,” mentioned Humphrey, who bought his hamstring wrapped and missed 17 defensive snaps general.
But the Ravens knew the potential rewards of a brief week, too. After a 27-22 win over the Buccaneers that secured their first profitable streak of the season and one other week atop the AFC North, they don’t play till Nov. 7, a “Monday Night Football” matchup towards the New Orleans Saints. Then comes a bye week. By the time the Ravens return to M&T Bank Stadium on Nov. 20 for a Week 11 recreation towards the Carolina Panthers, they’ll have performed only one recreation in a 23-day span.
”I believe it’s large,” outdoors linebacker Justin Houston mentioned. “I think we had a lot of guys go down tonight and in the previous two games, so we look beat up. So I think this mini bye is going to help us get everybody back together and let us rest and recover for that game [against New Orleans].”
After enduring one of the injury-marred years in latest NFL historical past, the Ravens have taken issues sluggish with some gamers, aware of the lengthy season forward.
Running again Gus Edwards, who left within the fourth quarter with a hamstring damage that Harbaugh indicated is minor, performed simply 16 offensive snaps, nonetheless restricted in follow by his surgically repaired knee. Left sort out Ronnie Stanley, ramping up his workload after a pair of season-ending ankle accidents, performed 61 of 76 offensive snaps. Running again Justice Hill, who handled a hamstring damage earlier this season, bought 16 snaps. Houston, sidelined for 3 weeks by a groin pressure, performed 24 of the protection’s 68 snaps.
But of their second half towards a Tampa Bay workforce that got here into Thursday’s recreation banged up and left the loss with much more accidents, the Ravens had the sharper edge. They outscored the Buccaneers 24-12 and outgained them 297-197 after halftime.
“I’m really proud of the guys because at the end of the game, our guys just had a little bit more left,” coach John Harbaugh mentioned. “You could see it in terms of the execution.”
Said proper sort out Morgan Moses: “It’s a short week of preparation, it’s a dogfight out there, and it’s really just, who’s going to last longer?”
The Ravens did. That wasn’t misplaced on quarterback Lamar Jackson. After one other day of aches, pains and journeys to the workforce’s medical tent, the Ravens may loosen up, if just for just a few days.
“It feels wonderful,” he mentioned.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com