Stanley returns, but line injuries taking toll
Left tackle leaves game briefly after injuring foot
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In a loss that further diminished the Ravens’ ailing offensive line, Ronnie Stanley was the latest to go down.
On a third-quarter passing play, the starting left tackle fell after a Carolina Panthers defender rolled up on him. Stanley had to be helped off the field by athletic trainers and missed the rest of the series and the Ravens’ next drive as well. He later returned to his familiar position with about two minutes left in the third quarter, and was seen exiting the locker room after the game with a walking boot on his left foot.
With Stanley out, the Ravens called on second-year guard-tackle Jermaine Eluemunor to fill in, which he did capably. Eluemunor was cut earlier this season before going unclaimed, being added to the practice squad and getting promoted to the active roster Tuesday.
The Ravens offensive line had entered the game at far from full strength. Starting right tackle James Hurst was out for the second straight week with a back injury, as was left guard Alex Lewis (neck). When the starters took the field Sunday, they included left guard Hroniss Grasu, a midseason acquisition who failed to make the Chicago Bears’ 53-man season-opening roster; center Matt Skura, an undrafted player who played most of last season at guard; and right tackle Orlando Brown Jr., a rookie who made his first NFL start last week.
Bolstered by rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson and a couple of decent runs by Alex Collins, the Ravens averaged 5.6 yards per carry and finished with 101 yards overall. But the line changes made things “very difficult,” coach John Harbaugh said.
Quarterback Joe Flacco was sacked twice and hit seven times, and the line allowed Panthers defensive tackle Kyle Love to surge into the backfield almost untouched and jar the ball loose from Collins on a bang-bang handoff play early in the second quarter. Carolina needed to go just 12 yards for its second touchdown drive, and the game was never so close The Panthers’ Kawann Short sacks Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco in the third quarter. Flacco was sacked twice and hit seven times. after that.
“It’s always tough that that’s the way it has to be, but that’s NFL football,” Flacco said. “Everybody would love it if the 11 guys [on offense] … stayed completely healthy all year, and you never had to deal with anything like that. But that’s not the name of this game, and we all know that. We know we are going to have to make these little adjustments here and there with who is playing where and what.
“You can talk about that all day, but it doesn’t matter at the end of the day. The only thing that matters is that we see that ‘W’ or that ‘L’ on the schedule at the end of the day.” Eventful day for Jackson: Jackson was in for three snaps on the Ravens’ first drive Sunday, which also happened to be their most successful. The rookie quarterback broke loose for a 17-yard option keeper in Carolina territory, and his run-pass-option read two plays later from the Panthers’ 14-yard line keyed Collins’ hard-charging touchdown run.
But in a day of near-universal disappointments for the Ravens, it was his next play, perhaps more than any other, that defined his performance in the 36-21 loss.
On third-and-1 from the Ravens’ 10, with Carolina still scoreless and hope for a crucial road win still very much alive, the Ravens ran another RPO with Jackson. For a second, it looked as if Jackson would surge for the sticks himself. But as Carolina’s edge collapsed in on him, including the nearby cornerback, he pulled up and delivered an off-balance pass to Willie Snead IV.
There wasn’t anyone within 5, maybe 10 yards of the Ravens wide receiver. The pass didn’t even make it to his feet.
“I got too excited,” Jackson said. “He was wide open, and I’m like, ‘We are going to have the game in the books early, and if I complete that pass, we are rolling.’ And I didn’t complete it.”
After an illegal-shift penalty negated a fake-punt fourth-down conversion, the Panthers got the ball back just past midfield. It took them four plays to score, and Carolina just kept at it, 24 straight points in all, a margin that deflated the Ravens’ sideline and diminished Jackson’s usage until late.
With the Panthers up 36-14 and less than six minutes remaining in the game, Flacco got the hook. On came Jackson. He didn’t miss a throw in a seven-play, 64-yard touchdown drive, the last of them a 26-strike to tight end Hayden Hurst in the end zone.
It was Jackson’s first career touchdown pass, Hurst’s first career touchdown catch and a ray of light for the future on an otherwise bleak day.
“I am trying to progress each and every week and better myself,” Jackson said. “It start off rocky with that pass.”
“It kind of takes [the significance] away because it’s in a loss,” Hurst said of the touchdown, “but hopefully, I can help the team in the future.” Who was active? Starting cornerback Marlon Humphrey (thigh) was ruled out Friday and, like Hurst, missed his second straight game.
Also inactive for the Ravens were quarterback Robert Griffin III, wide receiver-returner Jordan Lasley, tight end Maxx Williams and defensive tackle Zach Sieler.
Williams had played in every game this season for the Ravens, who activated defensive lineman-fullback Patrick Ricard with defensive tackle Willie Henry now on injured reserve.
For the Panthers, former Maryland and Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith was inactive. Safety Rashaan Gaulden, running back Cameron Artis-Payne, linebacker Andre Smith, guards Brendan Mahon and Amini Silatolu and defensive end Marquis Haynes also were not on the game-day roster.