OTL: Oh Hey, Another Injury! This One at Practice…

It was another week of misery, Ravens fans. In a year where this team has had Super Bowl aspirations, they have fallen to 1-3, and the players are dropping like flies. There is a real fear that the Ravens will fall to 1-5 if they can’t beat the Texans this week (though the Rams looked less than impressive last night).

Speaking of those injuries, we unfortunately have yet another one, this one sustained at practice.

Not practicing for Ravens: QB Lamar Jackson (hamstring); FB Patrick Ricard (calf), MLB Roquan Smith; CBs Marlon Humphrey (calf) and Chidobe Awuzie (hamstring); S Kyle Hamilton (groin).

C Tyler Linderbaum (calf) who showed up on yesterday’s injury report was practicing.

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) October 2, 2025

Why not add another to the laundry list? According to reporters, Hamilton hurt his groin on Wednesday at practice. If there was any shot at upsetting the Texans with Cooper Rush and a M*A*S*H unit, Hamilton was likely going to have to wreak havoc. If he can’t go, then I would almost guarantee a loss at this point. I know that makes me a Debby Downer, but come on, man, look at that injury report.

The defense was already struggling mightily, and now its best player might be out? Let’s hope it’s just minor and he sat out practice as a precaution.

There was, at least, a smidge of good news!

Nate Wiggins avoiding serious injury after that collision is nothing short of a miracle, the Ravens finally catch a break on the injury front!

Hopefully both Nate Dogg and the Baltimore Ravens defense will be back to regulating this coming Sunday! pic.twitter.com/p4sAKr8LVw

— Nic Mason (@British_Raven19) October 2, 2025

Another huge part in the Ravens pulling off this win on Sunday is that Nate Wiggins needs to play. There haven’t been many bright spots in the secondary, but Wiggins has been one, and we all feared the worst when we saw his collision and how he was holding his elbow. Wiggins has been playing like a legit number one corner this year. Even if he is out this week, it’s great that this isn’t a long-term injury.

Now, to the offensive side of the ball. If Cooper Rush is to pull off a minor miracle, and if the Ravens have any chance to get the 2025 train back on track in the coming months, one big change needs to happen. To help explain, here is Dan Orlovsky:

This is shocking and honestly unacceptable pic.twitter.com/v3FFvTdrqW

— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) October 2, 2025

Dan basically breaks down the biggest issue right now on offense: the usage of Derrick Henry. There has been some unusual running back usage over the past couple of years, but what they are doing with Henry right now is inexcusable. On first and second downs this year, the Ravens are running the ball with Henry, at a rate of 32nd in the league. Struggling O-line or not, fumbles or not, there is just no excuse for this.

With Lamar Jackson out now, these numbers need to go up because it’s inexplicable for this malpractice to keep happening. I mean, come on, you have The King right there and you’re not establishing the run?

I also don’t want to hear about Pat Ricard’s absence as an excuse for Monken/Harbaugh. We’ve had this discussion around here, regarding abandoning the run, throughout many offensive coordinators (Cameron, Mornhinweg, Trestman, etc.) and running backs (Ray Rice, Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins, Alex Collins, etc.) and here we are again. There’s one constant in the equation, and I’ll leave that to the reader to decipher.

Maybe now, with no Lamar Jackson to play hero ball and save them, they’ll decide to do what makes sense on offense. They’d better, if they have any hope of saving their season, and if one or two guys have any hope of keeping their jobs.

The post OTL: Oh Hey, Another Injury! This One at Practice… appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/10/03/out-to-lunch/otl-oh-hey-another-injury-this-one-at-practice/