On Monday, Baltimore Ravens’ running back, Ray Rice, spoke about the injury suffered by Ray Lewis and dropped an interesting idea about the future hall of fame linebacker.
Rice believed that Lewis would not retire due to an injury and said to not rule him out for a return in 2012.
Now, many may have shrugged this off as Rice being overly optimistic about his teammate. The two players are extremely close and Rice has even referred to Lewis as a mentor on numerous occasions.
However, it was announced Tuesday by the Ravens that Lewis had been placed on the injured reserve lists but with a special stipulation. A newly instituted rule by the NFL gives each team one slot to place injured players on that gives them the option to come back if the player heals quicker than expected.
While this is good news in a sense, Ravens’ fans should remember it is all hypothetical and will be determined much later in the season.
By rule, Lewis could return to the field no later than mid-December (week 15), if at all. This would put him back in action two games before the playoffs.
As of now, back-ups Jameel McClain and Dannell Ellerbe will help fill in for the injured Lewis. Both have had experience at the starting slot last season when Lewis went down for five weeks due to a toe injury. Head coach John Harbaugh has expressed nothing but confidence in the two and is optimistic about their abilities to help the team out.
The other injured Raven from Sunday’s game, cornerback Lardarius Webb, is wasting no time fixing his torn ACL. It has been reported that he will undergo surgery this week.
Webb tore his left ACL in the first-quarter against the Dallas Cowboys.
He has had knee problems in the past. In his rookie season, Webb tore his right ACL. He made a full-recovery and returned the next year to make a name for himself as one of the Ravens’ most dominating defensive back.
In the three years following his injury Webb has a career total of eight interceptions (one for touchdown), two forced fumbles and 159 tackles. On special teams, he has returned both a kick-off and punt-return, for a touchdown.
Webb will definitely be missing the remainder of the 2012 season, with second-year corner, Jimmy Smith taking his place.
The aftermath of Sunday’s game left the Ravens without many of its key-defensive stars. However, one player finally made it off the injury report. Reigning defensive player of the year, Terrell Suggs, is back in practice. Suggs partially tore his Achilles tendon in the off-season and has been on the physically unable to perform list all year.
While the team is taking it slow with Suggs’ return, it is reported that he should be back in November.
When looking past the injuries to the defensive squad, they have the 26th ranking in terms of yardage allowed. Also, the replacements for Suggs, especially Paul Kruger, have not been as effective. The Ravens have allowed two back-to-back 200 yard rushing games and last week gave up the most in team history.
Despite all the bad, there is still the overall picture that Baltimore is 5-1, tied for first-place with the Houston Texans in the AFC and has a cushy first-place rank in the AFC North.