Ravens top two RBs among those that tested positive for COVID-19
The Baltimore Ravens can’t seem to catch a break nowadays. It was already bad enough losing another game to the Tennessee Titans at home in the same calendar year on Sunday afternoon, but later that night they were informed that multiple members of the organization tested positive for COVID-19 and that the team facility would be shut down as they enter the league’s intensive protocol yet again.
Official team statement:
“Late last night, we were informed that multiple members of the Baltimore Ravens organization tested positive for COVID-19, and those individuals immediately began to self-quarantine.”
“We have started the process of contact tracing, and during this time, the Under Armour Performance Center will be closed, with all team activities conducted virtually.”
“We will continue to work closely with and follow guidance from the NFL, team doctors, and our medical trainers.”
While the team didn’t disclose which players and other staff members tested positive for the coronavirus, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported, per sources, that veteran Mark Ingram and rookie J.K. Dobbins were among those who contracted it and will be placed on the reserve list Monday.
Ingram and Dobbins are the Ravens’ top two running backs and will not be available to play in the team’s primetime bout with their archrival Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday.
This is an especially unfortunate development for the first-year player who Baltimore selected in the second round of this year’s draft out of Ohio State. Dobbins is coming off his second-best performance as a pro and looked to have finally seized the role as the Ravens’ featured back.
On Sunday, the rookie was the most explosive and efficient runner not named Derrick Henry in that game. He led the team in rushing with 70 yards on 15 carries, averaged nearly five yards a carry, scored his first touchdown since the season opener, and was on the receiving in of a successful two-point conversion attempt. He also caught two passes for 15 yards.
Ingram hasn’t made much of an impact since returning from a high ankle sprain that kept him sidelined for two games with just 31 yards from scrimmage on nine combined touches in the last two games.
However, he is a well-respected and boisterous veteran leader who brings juice to the team whether he’s on the field with the ball in his hands or cheering on, hyping up and encouraging his fellow backs and all his teammates from the sidelines.
While the Ravens are going to miss their red-hot rookie that gashed the Steelers for a career-high 113 yards on the ground when these two teams played earlier this month, they are still in good hands at the running back position with third-year pro Gus ‘The Bus’ Edwards slated to make his fourth start of the season and 11th of his career if the game is played as scheduled this week.
Edwards didn’t have much of a role in this past week’s game as the team opted to roll with the hot hand of Dobbins against the Titans, but he’s been a powerful thundering presence in just about every other game he’s played this season and since emerging as an undrafted rookie midway through the 2018 season.
He also ran well against Pittsburgh in the previous meeting between the two teams. He finished second on the team in rushing with 87 yards, tied for the most carries with 16, averaged over five yards per carry, and scored a touchdown on the ground as well.
With both Ingram and Dobbins on the reserve list, that leaves Edwards and second-year pro Justice Hill as the only two running backs left on the active roster that will be available and eligible to play this week, barring either of them getting placed on the list well through contact tracing.
The Ravens also have rookie Ty’Son Williams who they signed as an undrafted free agent out of BYU on the practice squad that they could promote to the active roster for the Thanksgiving game as a COVID-19 replacement.
