Baltimore Ravens will be short-handed on Thanksgiving vs Steelers

The Baltimore Ravens will be short-handed in their fight against the Steelers:

According to reports, the Baltimore Ravens will be missing J.K. Dobbins and Mark Ingram in their Thursday night battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Dobbins and Ingram were both placed on the COVID-19 list. Brandon Williams was also put on the list.

This means two things. First, an offense that was already struggling is missing two running backs. Secondly, it means Gus Edwards is going to have a heavy workload and Justice Hill can finally be used in this offense. Edwards is a quality running back who has had big moments for the Ravens before, it may not feel like it but it could be worse.

The biggest problem for the Ravens is that Dobbins has started to become the number one running back for this team. Dobbins is the most electric player on the offense, you could argue, other than Lamar Jackson. Dobbins is a much better pass catcher than Gus The Bus Edwards.

According to reports, the Baltimore Ravens had to close their facility due to COVID-19 concerns. That means there’s a lot of contact tracing to do. That means there’s a lot up in the air right now. Going with what we know right now it’s not entirely impossible that the Thursday night game could be postponed. It would probably be a good thing for the Ravens if it was.

Baltimore is reeling after losing three of their last four games. In all three of those games, the Ravens held a lead and crumbled late. With so many injuries, and now covid-19 forcing players to be out for the game, it’s hard to imagine the Ravens are on the right spot to go into Pittsburgh and win.

You also have to wonder if this game can be played responsibly. If it is determined that for the safety of both teams this game should not be played on Thanksgiving night, postponing it is the best-case scenario. This is something that we need to follow as more information comes out.

Assuming the game is played on the holiday, it’s hard to have a lot of optimism. The Steelers are undefeated. Whether you think they have looked that great or not, they are not struggling with dysfunction and problems that the Ravens are facing. The Ravens need their A-game to beat the Steelers; they’re A-game hasn’t been found for a while.

The bottom line:

With Raven Steelers games you often can throw the records of both teams out the window. In 2015 the Baltimore Ravens swept the Pittsburgh Steelers and had a record bad enough to get them Ronnie Stanley in the subsequent NFL Draft. This team does not feel like one of those old Ravens teams though, so confidence is hard to come by. The Ravens can win this game, but are you willing to bet that they will?

The loss to the Titans was a trust-breaking loss. It’s hard to give the Baltimore Ravens the benefit of the doubt. We’ll have to see what happens but without Dobbins and the way things are going, Thanksgiving night has the potential to be a little rough.