5 Things The Ravens Need To Focus On During Bye Week
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The Baltimore Ravens' bye week is coming at a perfect time. After losing four games straight and winning zero games in the month of October, the Ravens must use this time to heal and look ahead to a new month of football, starting with the Pittsburgh Steelers. First thing to do is...get healthy.
Get Healthy
The Ravens suffered a 5-11 season last year mostly due to a plethora of injuries plaguing both veteran and rookie players, and sadly this season, despite a 4-0 preseason, is off to the same start. But looking ahead, both Terrell Suggs and Marshal Yanda who were out with injuries were back at practice this week. Suggs says he's not trying to miss the upcoming Steelers game.
Running back Lorenzo Taliaferro also returned to the 53-man roster last week against the Jets. Baltimore recently activated Matt Elam over defensive tackle Carl Davis and cornerbacks Sheldon Price and Maurice Canady. Elam hasn't played since 2014, but looked promising during training camp before suffering a knee injury, but he won't be eligible to return until Nov. 10 for Thursday Night Football versus the Cleveland Browns.
Running Game
The Ravens had just 6 yards in last week's game, which is rather embarrassing. Good news is, the Ravens seem to be prepping Dixon with a new arsenal of moves, Taliaferro is back and Terrance West is explosive if he can find the gaps.
Protecting The QB
The Ravens need to sure up the offensive line. With a likely return of Yanda and perhaps Stanley, we'll probably see a more confident Joe Flacco.
Stanley has missed the past four games (all losses) with an injured his foot. Stanley has said the past couple weeks that he feels well enough to play, but that the decision is left to the trainers and coaches. He was a full practice participant all last week and Offensive Line Coach Juan Castillo said Stanley had a great practice on Tuesday, and added, "he's ready."
Morninhweg, Trestman and Plays, Oh My
The Ravens had a 2-hour and twenty minute team meeting on Monday, where they reviewed every play from latest loss. New plays take time, but the Ravens need to look at some of their choices in choosing an "aggressive" play over a smart play. Coach Habraugh knows something's gotta give and said, "We're not going to have some big monstrous change, we believe in the stuff we're doing, we just want to do them better. But we've got to get it going, there's no question."
Ruling The AFC North
Sitting only one spot behind Pittsburgh, the Ravens do indeed have a chance to turn their fate around in the next few divisional games.