The Browns and Ravens are set for a huge week 14 battle to end this week in the NFL.
Here are tonight’s inactives for both teams as they set for action:
Here’s the Browns Inactives:
TE Austin Hooper
WR Marvin Hall
WR KhaDarel Hodge
CB Denzel Ward
S Tedric Thompson
DE Joe Jackson
The Ravens inactives:
Tonight’s inactives vs. the Browns. pic.twitter.com/QQxYKg3zJw
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 14, 2020
Ravens wide out Dez Bryant has taken to social media to announce that he’s tested negative for COVID-19 on Thursday, two days after he tested positive in a move that kept him out of the game against the Dallas Cowboys.
“He’s doing as well as can be expected,” Ravens coach Jim Harbaugh said about Bryant.
“He’s a guy that cares. He sacrificed a lot to leave home and leave family behind. He’s a family man and has kids. I think he’s pretty hurt by it. He’s not mad at anybody. But just the circumstances, I think he’s a little stunned by it, surprised that it came up. I think he’s trying to work his way through it right now.”
The little-used wide out produced a positive just a half-hour before Tuesday’s kickoff against his former team after his tests that morning were inconclusive.
He was not placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the Ravens, said Thursday on Twitter that it could have been a false positive.
“I tested negative back to back for covid and I’m not excited about it,” Bryant posted.
It’s already been a tough week for the 6-4 Ravens and they haven’t even taken the field yet as they get ready to head to Pittsburgh to take on the 10-0 AFC North leading Steelers.
The team has a large handful of players already on the covid-19/reserve list – and now it’s being reported that 2019 NFL MVP Ravens QB Lamar Jackson has tested positive for the covid-19 virus, meaning that he won’t be able to play IF there’s a game at 1:15pm Sunday at Heinz Field.
Among now those that have tested positive include:
QB Lamar Jackson
RB J.K. Dobbins
RB Mark Ingram
DE Jihad Ward
LB Pernell McPhee
QB Trace McSorley
C Matt Skura
OG Patrick Mekari
DE Calais Campbell
NT Brandon Williams is on the covid-19/reserve list due to being a high-risk close contact.
ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter says now that it’s becoming more and more unlikely that Sunday’s game between the Steelers and Ravens will be played at all.
Four more Ravens’ players and one more staff have tested positive for COVID, source tells ESPN.
Game Sunday still on for now, but chances of it being played are diminishing quickly.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 27, 2020
Ravens players were told today by their HC John Harbaugh that, for everyone’s safety, they will not be allowed back in the training facility until Monday at the earliest, sources tell ESPN.
Ravens are scheduled to play Steelers on Sunday, so that game doesn’t seem possible.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 27, 2020
One source on Sunday’s scheduled Ravens-Steelers game: “No way it can be played.” https://t.co/Y1lfV4XBao
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 27, 2020
The Ravens are already in a must-win situation for Thursday’s game against the Steelers on the road, and now they are going to have to do it minus two of their best best running backs.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reports that running backs Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins have BOTH tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, and both will miss Thursday’s huge showdown.
#Ravens RBs Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins have tested positive for COVID-19 and will be placed on the reserve list later today, according to sources. All aboard the Gus Bus for Thursday vs. the #Steelers.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) November 23, 2020
The absence of both those running backs leaves the team having to go with Gus Edwards as the club’s featured back for the game.
You can bet that quarterback Lamar Jackson will get plenty of designed runs as well.
Dobbins this season has 483 yards from scrimmage, and Ingram this season has 232 yards with two scores.
The Ravens amassed 457 total yards in the first game between the two teams, a Steelers 28-24 win. In that game the Ravens rushed for 265 yards, with an average of 5.6 yards per carry.
In that game Dobbins rushed for a game-high 113 yards on 15 carries, but will be watching on Thanksgiving night.
The Ravens are adding some depth to their defensive backfield, as multiple reports say the team is set to ink cornerback Pierre Desir.
Corner is a huge position of need for the Ravens, who currently have five players at the position on injured reserve.
Can confirm corner Pierre Desir expected to sign with Ravens, as @MikeGarafolo said. Subject to covid testing. Depth for Ravens secondary.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) November 23, 2020
They might not get Desir’s services right away, as he has to clear the COVID-19 testing protocol.
He won’t be able to get things done in time for Thursday night’s monster game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but could return for the week 13 game against Dallas.
Desir was a fourth-round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft by the Browns, and has bounced around the NFL, playing for the Chargers, Colts and Jets.
Ravens QB Lamar Jackson opened up a can of worms when he said that opposing defenses seem to know what plays the Ravens are running this season.
OC Greg Roman came back saying that teams knowing what the Ravens are running is “nothing new” and that it’s just something that the Ravens and Jackson have to live with.
Former Ravens TE Shannon Sharpe gave his reaction to what Roman had to say and his take on the ongoing situation.
All week the Ravens told everyone that the knee injury suffered by quarterback and last year’s NFL MVP Lamar Jackson was “minor,” yet until he took the practice field fans were holding their breath.
Well Ravens fans, you can breathe again.
Jackson was back to his old self Friday as his two-day absence of practice is done, as he was back on the practice field Friday.
Jackson participated in practice and didn’t display any limitations, per The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec, including going without a knee brace after he was listed on the injury report with a knee issue.
The Ravens will battle the Bengals and rookie QB Joe Burrow Sunday, and Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Friday that Jackson is “100 percent” and will play Sunday.
Through two weeks of the season the competition level for the Baltimore Ravens has slowly gotten better each week.
Week one it was the sorely unprepared and undisciplined Cleveland Browns, who didn’t seem to put up much of a fight as the Ravens led by 18 by halftime at 24-6.
Sunday in Houston it was J.J. Watt, DeShaun Watson and the Texans, but again the Ravens were able to hold them in check for the most part and by the time it was over walk out of Houston with a 33-16 win.
Now though, the competition will get tougher – maybe as tough as it can possibly get.
Monday night the Ravens will play host to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that the Ravens had to watch hoist a Lombardi Trophy a few months back that they felt would be going to them.
The oddsmakers currently have the Ravens as an early 2.5-3 point favorite to beat the Chiefs, but for the most part it’ll be an even game by the time the two teams kickoff at 8:15pm ET Monday evening.
Get the most updated NFL lines, odds, spreads, and picks from BetQL for every game and every bet type.
The Ravens were one of the teams that nearly got it done against the Chiefs last year in an early season battle at Arrowhead Stadium.
It was another coming out party that day for Lamar Jackson, as the Ravens and NFL MVP from a season ago was on fire, throwing for 267 yards, and rushing for 46 yards and a score.
The Baltimore defense though could not stop Mahomes, as he threw for 374 yards and three scores as the Ravens fell by a final of 33-28.
You got a sense that day you were seeing the best two teams in the AFC in 2019, and standings wise by the time the season ended that was the case.
If the Ravens had not choked in the divisional round against the upstart Tennessee Titans, they would have hosted the AFC Championship against Mahomes and the Chiefs.
Instead, they had to sit and watch as the Chiefs got the honor of hosting the game for the second straight season, but this time they got it done against the Titans, and eventually took care of the 49’ers in the Super Bowl.
It should be a fun week leading up to round two Monday night at M&T Bank Stadium, and even though the stands won’t be full, it’ll be an electric atmosphere as two teams that have unfinished business play what could be the best game of 2020.
December 14th, 2020 
Matt Loede 
Posted in 
