The Baltimore Ravens were able to pick up a 16-13 victory over the Chicago Bears in Week 11. It was a gutsy and gritty win, as the team was dealing with not having many of their stars available, including quarterback Lamar Jackson, who missed the contest with an illness.
After the game, head coach John Harbaugh described the pregame as “frantic”, talking about how every week has been a challenge due to the injuries the team has gone through, especially in Week 11 when they didn’t know if Jackson, cornerback Anthony Averett and a few others would be able to play.
“It was frantic. We had 53 on the roster this week, which made the math a little easier, for me anyway. It was not knowing if Lamar [Jackson] was going to be there, and then Anthony [Averett], and there might have been another guy or two that I’m forgetting about. But it’s just been that way all year. It’s been that way all year. Every single week has been a challenge, in terms of who’s going to be up and down, so we’ve got to get everybody ready, and our coaches have done a great job of that – preparing, really, the whole roster to play, because it turned out to be, ‘You’ve got to be ready to play.’ Ar’Darius [Washington] came in and played six plays on defense [and] played some plays on special teams. It wasn’t like he would have thought at the beginning of the week he was going to be playing. So, I’ve really got to credit our coaches and the players for doing that.”
When the Ravens downgraded wide receiver Marquise Brown to out and Jackson to questionable the afternoon before the game, it was obvious that the Week 11 game day roster was going to look different. However, little was it known that Averett and fellow cornerback Jimmy Smith would also miss the contest with ailments of their own.
This season has been very strange for the Baltimore, but they have continued to overcome a lot of the injuries and are persevering through it all. Hopefully they can continue to grind out wins and do enough to set themselves up for a deep playoff run while winning the AFC North in the process.