OTL: Jaire’s Return Provides Boost of Confidence

Happy Football Season, Ravens fans. Welcome to Week 1 of the NFL Season, where the expectations for our favorite teams will skyrocket or plummet based on one game of football out of seventeen.

It feels great to be back, even better that we have a near spotless injury report to go over:

Injury Report: Ravens @ Bills (Thursday)

Not having Patrick Ricard is a bit of a loss, but if there is one position to miss, it is fullback. I truly never expected Isaiah Likely for this one. It is kind of insane that he was even in that conversation, considering I thought he would be a mid-season addition at best, so the fact that he might come back in the next two weeks is kind of nuts. Still, for other reasons we will get into, the Ravens can absorb these two losses and start 2-0.

The most important thing is that Jaire Alexander will be playing week one. He has had a knee issue since August, and he just came back to practice this week. Would it be the craziest thing in the world to put him on hold? Not necessarily, but the Ravens need Jaire out there making plays. After the way last season began in the secondary, they need to show how much they have improved as a unit immediately. I worry if they can do that without Alexander against Josh Allen.

Speaking of players making their debuts, one rookie I cannot wait to see is Malaki Starks:

Orr on 1st-round safety Malaki Starks: “He doesn’t look like a rookie. He doesn’t play like a rookie.”

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) September 4, 2025

Just thinking about how bad the safeties were at the start of last year makes me that much more excited to see how Starks can impact this defense. I understand we have to be patient with rookies; however, Starks has gotten nothing but praise from the staff, and I can’t wait to see him on Sunday. I made a bold prediction for this week that one of the newly added players in the secondary would have a pick, and I do hope it is Starks.

For the second year in a row, the Ravens will be playing the team that sent them home to start the year. While I think the idea of revenge games is a little silly, I do hope one player uses the pain of how last year ended and goes onto the field with something to prove:

Mark Andrews’ focus is in the right place as Ravens return to Buffalo: ‘He’s a true warrior’ https://t.co/3WKBdJkzsW

— The Athletic NFL (@TheAthleticNFL) September 4, 2025

I’m not going to gloss over the fact that I thought it would be a good idea to let Mark Andrews go in the off-season. Charlie Kolar and Likely can be great tight ends and the Ravens could have used the money on something else. That doesn’t change the fact that he is here, and now that he is here, I truly need a legacy game from him this week. Would it change the outcome of last year or make fans feel better? Probably not, but it would show that the 2025 Ravens are different and are not going to let the demons of the past affect them.

Football is back, and this has to be the year the tides turn the Ravens’ way, right? We will find that out soon enough, and it all starts by winning this game on Sunday.

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