McPhee fourth player shelved
Linebacker placed on COVID-19 reserve list
Ravens outside linebacker Pernell McPhee was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list Tuesday and will miss at least Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, further depleting the team during a short week of practice.
Four Ravens players this week have now been ruled out of the Thanksgiving Day matchup amid a coronavirus outbreak. Ravens running backs J.K. Dobbins and Mark Ingram II returned positive tests late Sunday night and were placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list Monday. Defensive tackle Brandon Williams was also placed on the list after contact tracing found him to be a “highrisk” close contact.
Quarterback Trace McSorley was added to the reserve/ COVID-19 list Friday and has yet to be activated. Cornerback Iman Marshall, who suffered a seasonending knee injury in training camp, is also on the list. ESPN reported Tuesday that five Ravens players and four staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 this week.
McPhee is perhaps the Ravens’ strongest run-stopping outside linebacker, and has played 50.6% of the team’s defensive snaps this
season. He has two sacks and 26 tackles in 10 games. In his absence, the Ravens could activate versatile defense end Jihad Ward, who last played in Week 6, and lean more on outside linebacker Tyus Bowser, whose role has shrunk since the trade for defensive end Yannick Ngakoue.
Even with the Ravens’ facility closed for most of Monday and Tuesday, the team will continue to test players for COVID-19; the incubation period for the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is about four to five days. An NFL spokesman said Tuesday that Thursday’s game was still scheduled for 8:20 p.m, but that the league “will continue to monitor developments in consultation with our medical experts.” The Ravens are scheduled to fly to Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Because of the NFL’s coronavirus protocols, the four Ravens players will miss not only a pivotal rivalry game but potentially also the team’s Week13 game against the Dallas Cowboys. The Ravens (6-4), who have lost two straight and are battling for a postseason berth, are set to host the Cowboys (3-7) on Dec. 3, seven days after their game against the Steelers.
player who tests positive and is not showing symptoms can return to practice only after 10 days have passed since
his test was taken, or if he returns two negative tests at least 24 hours apart. A player deemed a high-risk close contact can return after a five-day self-quarantine, so long as he continues to test negative.
Dobbins and Ingram would likely be able to return for a Wednesday walkthrough ahead of the game against Dallas. Williams and any other player deemed a close contact would also be eligible to return in advance of the game against the Cowboys. But the 10-day timeline for any player who returned a positive test Tuesday, or who could return one in the coming days, would force them to miss next week’s game.
The Ravens briefly closed their facility Monday after learning Ingram and Dobbins, who played in Sunday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans, had tested positive. The team opened its facility and conducted a walk-through Monday evening after contract tracing was completed, then canceled practice Tuesday and announced that all meetings would be held remotely.
“I don’t really have a frustration meter; that’s not the way that we think,” coach John Harbaugh said Monday, when asked about his frustration with the uncertainty the pandemic’s created. “I don’t think you can afford to think that way in football, and I don’t think it’s real productive in life. So [we] just meet it as we find it and deal with it, and we make the best of it. That’s what we’re doing at the end of the day, and the guys are doing a good job of it.”