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Baltimore Ravens: 3 lessons learned from 2017 injury bug

By Chris Schisler

BALTIMORE, MD - DECEMBER 31: Running back Alex Collins #34 of the Baltimore Ravens dives for a touchdown in the third quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at M&T Bank Stadium on December 31, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - DECEMBER 31: Running back Alex Collins #34 of the Baltimore Ravens dives for a touchdown in the third quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at M&T Bank Stadium on December 31, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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The Baltimore Ravens were affected once again by the injury bug. This time, they learned some very valuable things:

The Baltimore Ravens are consistently one of the NFL’s most injury affected teams. Hopefully, that means the Ravens are due for some good luck on that front in 2018. Injuries are the part of the game that you can’t control. Injuries happen, and how teams deal with them is what is important.

The Ravens lost Dennis Pitta, Crockett Gillmore, Tavon Young, Nico Siragusa and Alex Lewis for the entire season. Marshall Yanda went down in week 2 and never returned to the action. Jimmy Smith got just over half of a Pro Bowl worthy season in before he tore his Achilles tendon. It’s fairly obvious that the Ravens got hurt by injuries in 2017. Here are three things they learned only because of injuries:

3. Alex Collins has a chance to be a superstar

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If Danny Woodhead hadn’t gone down for the first half of the season, and Kenneth Dixon didn’t miss the entire season, the Ravens may not have discovered Collins. Collins started the season on the Seahawks practice squad. While Collins was somebody with potential, nobody saw his amazing 2017 season coming. The Ravens walked into the season with Terrance West, Buck Allen and Danny Woodhead being their trio at the position. This could have easily ended up differently.

Collins had to wait until week 2 to get into the action as a Baltimore Raven. Collins ended up with 973 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. This is fairly impressive considering that it’s a 15 game body of work and in about nine of those games the Ravens offense was putrid around him. Collins was a bright spot of a disappointing season. Still, the Ravens won nine games. This wouldn’t have happened if the Ravens didn’t give Collins this chance to shine. Collins has a chance to be a superstar.

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