Ravens Injury Roundup Heading Into Thursday Night Football
By Kevin Ross II
Week two brings more of the same for the Ravens injury report, as all of the attention centers around starting cornerback, Lardarius Webb. Webb has been battling a nagging back injury since the second day of training camp. He has missed all four of the Ravens preseason games, and he also had to sit out the opener against Cincinnati.
Although listed on the injury report as "questionable," Webb has practiced all week and is extremely optimistic about his chances of seeing the field tonight against the Steelers. Right now Webb is happy to tell anyone who will listen that he is feeling good and ready to play, "I’m ready to get it going, and who better than Pittsburgh?"
However, at this point it’s best to take a wait-and-see approach with Webb. Last week he was also highly optimistic, and was also coming off of a solid week of practice. It wasn’t until pregame warm-ups that Baltimore decided to sit the cornerback, and give him another week to recover.
The Ravens will go through the same pregame routine and run Webb through a myriad of on the field tests to see if his back responds properly. If his back holds up, Webb will likely start against Pittsburgh. But the question that many have is this: How effective can Webb actually be after missing all of the preseason?
If Webb starts against the Steelers he’ll be matched up with one of the surprisingly faster receiving corps in the entire National Football League. Steeler receivers Antonio Brown and Markus Wheaton are lightning fast, as evidenced by their plethora of big plays against Cleveland. If Webb is cleared to play, the Ravens may opt to not start him and to work him in on a couple of packages, just to get his feet up under him. But we’ll have to wait for kickoff to see if Webb will make his season debut.
The only other player listed on the Ravens injury report is Pro Bowl right guard Marshal Yanda, who was listed as "probable." Marshal is believed to be relatively healthy, but he was held out of Monday’s practice as a precautionary measure as he dealt with a foot injury. Yanda participated fully in practice on Tuesday and Wednesday and is expected to start against Pittsburgh.
The Steelers added the names of 16 players to their injury report. With 14 of those players listed as probable. Although their injury report is lengthy, Mike Tomlin will more than likely have his full arsenal of players on Thursday night.
The Steelers included the following names as "probable" to play against the Ravens : QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB Le’Veon Bell, WR Antonio Brown, WR Martavis Bryant, DE Brett Kiesel, TE Heath Miller, DB Troy Polamalu, DB Brice McCain, NT Steve McLendon, DB Ike Tylor, DB Shamarko Thomas, G Cody Wallace, WR Markus Wheaton, and LB Vince Williiams
For more Ravens news and updates, visit Ravens Central.
Kevin Ross is a freelance writer covering all things Washington Redskins. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
