The Ravens rookies lost the first two division games of their careers in back-to-back games. Both were ugly second-half collapses that the franchise is all too familiar with, and now so are these rookies. All three of the losses in their young NFL careers have come from blowing second-half leads. Let’s hope they learn to shake the habit faster than some of the vets on the team…
OG Vega Ioane
The rookie, who’s played well enough to earn talks about rookie-of-the-year voting as a lineman, played less than a quarter
against the Bengals. The Ravens will have to continue to wait to see their ideal offensive line play a game together after Cam Jurgens finally made his debut. The word is Ioane has an MCL sprain that isn’t too severe but will have him miss some time.
OLB Zion Young
The second-rounder’s snap count stayed at about the 40% mark despite Tavius Robinson’s injury, which is going to sideline him for the season. As it was for most of the defense, it wasn’t a banner day for Young. It was low PFF grades, no pressures accounted for, no run stops, and a missed tackle. We won’t look too hard into it with the entire defense sucking.
WR Ja’Kobi Lane
Lane continued to flash after last week’s return with another three catches this week. They only totaled for 25 yards, but two of those catches did go for first downs. Lane’s hands have flashed with catches in traffic and big third-down grabs. It’s easy to get excited about what Lane’s role could grow to once Lamar Jackson returns to the lineup.
WR Elijah Sarratt
Sarratt was a healthy scratch once again this week.
TE Matt Hibner
Hibner returned to the lineup after missing the game in Cleveland. More than half his snaps came as a run blocker and what few snaps were routes run, he didn’t draw a single target. That might have been designed to have Hibner focus on the run game after his hand injury. With Andrews continuing to struggle and now Cuevas really flashing,
TE Josh Cuevas
After a solid showing in Cleveland, Cuevas only played 16 snaps in Cincinnati. He made a solid impact on his eight routes, catching two of his targets for 35 yards for a solid 4.38 yards per route run. His run-blocking is still coming along; he registered grades below 50.0 in each of the last two weeks.
CB Chandler Rivers
Rivers was active this week but received no snaps on defense as Keyon Martin has taken the slot role firmly back.
P Ryan Eckley
Eckley was not as busy as one would expect given the Ravens’ offensive struggles. His first-quarter 49-yarder flipped the field, but his 57-yarder in the third quarter did not have enough hang time, leading to a big return. His final punt traveled only 39 yards and went out of bounds at the Bengals’ 21-yard line.
OLB Ethan Burke
Ethan Burke’s 78.5 PFF grade actually led the team (for whatever that’s worth). He stepped up in Tavius Robinson’s absence with stout run defense and won a few pass rushes, but could not finish a clear opportunity to take down Joe Burrow.
Joe Fagnano was the active backup this week behind Huntley but saw no action. Running back Adam Randall remains on injured reserve, with defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny on the practice squad.
