BLOG: Ravens' Oline Missing You
For about three years now, I've been convinced that Baltimore Ravens guard Ben Grubbs was the best offensive lineman on the team and one of the best guards in the NFL.
Now, I'm sure if there was any debate before, there's little now that the stud out of Auburn is injured. Grubbs was certainly missed in last Sunday's 26-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans. The running game was ineffective, as the majority of the plays went to the left side. The pass protection was, at best, shaky as Flacco was rushed on several of his throws.
Grubbs was not in practice on Wednesday, and it's not looking good for Sunday's game in St. Louis. That's a must win game if there ever was one in September, and Grubbs is key to the Ravens running game. The gap between he and Mark LeVoir is substantial and for some reason John Harbaugh publicly said that Andre Gurode hasn't played guard even though he played it for the first three years of his career according to pro-football-reference.com.
It's all about the offensive line for this team. Nothing works unless these guys create space for Joe Flacco and running lanes for Ray Rice and Ricky Williams. If the same issues come up on Sunday against the Rams, they'll be more explaining to do next week.
Rob Long
