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The Baltimore Ravens have looked fine-tuned for a playoff run over the last five weeks. The offense has been steadily improving to the point they rushed for over 400 yards on the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17, while the defense played significantly better football with cornerback Marcus Peters back in the lineup. As they turn their attention forward to the wild-card matchup against the Tennessee Titans, the Ravens might just be getting even healthier.
Health has been a major concern for Baltimore all season long as the team has seemingly added more names to the injury report over the last five weeks than it’s taken off. Granted, it wasn’t asking for a lot, but against Cincinnati, the Ravens appear to have come out unscathed.
“I think we got through this pretty well, I haven’t been informed of anything serious,” coach John Harbaugh told reporters after Sunday’s game.
Harbaugh also seemed optimistic about the potential return of impact players like defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and cornerback Jimmy Smith, who missed Week 17.
“I do think there’s a good chance we’ll get those guys [Ngakoue and Smith] back,” Harbaugh continued. “I can’t say for certain but I do think there’s a good chance for those guys to play.”
The Ravens have been missing starters on both sides of the ball in recent weeks and it’s definitely been felt on defense. Peters, Ngakoue, Smith, Calais Campbell, Anthony Averett, and Derek Wolfe have all missed at least one game over the last five weeks. With only Smith and Ngakoue missing this last regular-season game, there’s reasonable hope Baltimore can get all of their major defensive players back in time for this playoff matchup.
The return of Peters was a breath of fresh air on Sunday, seeing Baltimore’s defense play significantly better than it had the previous four weeks en route to shutting down the Bengals’ passing attack to just 48 net yards. If the jump in play noticed when guys like Peters and Campbell have returned to the lineup is any indication, the Ravens’ defense should be in rare form next week.
They’ll need to be in order to pick up their first playoff win of the Lamar Jackson era and get another step closer to the ultimate goal of winning Super Bowl LV.
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