Ravens veteran NT Brandon Williams placed on Reserve/COVID-19 List for second time
The bad news continues to roll in for the battered and bruised Baltimore Ravens on Monday following their second loss the Tennessee Titans this calendar year.
Shortly after news broke that their top two running backs test positive for COVID-19, the team announced that veteran nose tackle Brandon Williams will be joining them on the Reserve/COVID-19 List and won’t be eligible to travel and play in the team’s Week 12 primetime matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thanksgiving night.
This will mark Williams’ second time being placed on the reserve list thus season after Head Coach John Harbaugh told reporters that the star defensive lineman was deemed high risk via contact tracing.
Williams missed the Ravens’ Week Six road trip to Philadelphia when they barely held on to beat the Eagles 30-28 and has missed the team’s last two games with an ankle injury he suffered on the first drive of their Week 10 bout with the New England Patriots.
It would’ve remained to be seen if Williams would’ve been healthy enough to play the Ravens’ arch rivals this Thursday but now it doesn’t matter if his ankle was or was close to full go.
Baltimore’s run defense has suffered mightily this season and any other time that Williams has been out of the lineup for the majority of his career. He’s the anchor in the middle of the defensive front seven and one of the elite run defenders in the entire league.
Without Williams and four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Calais Campbell in the lineup for the past two weeks, the Ravens have yielded 346 rushing yards on 73 carries for nearly five yards per carry average to the Patriot and the Titans.
The Ravens have allowed back to back 100-yard rushers and lost consecutive games for the first time since Week’s Three and Four of last season before they ripped off 12 straight wins.
Injuries, COVID and general game to game adversity has derailed the Ravens season over the last month since coming off their bye when they are usually among the league’s best.
It is still two early to call the season a complete disaster with more games yet to be played but the prospects of a miraculous turnaround are beginning to look bleaker and bleaker with each loss, injury, and uninspiring performance.
