The Ravens held one of their usual mid-week practices on Wednesday, and even though only 30 minutes of it were open to beat reporters and media members attending it live on location at the Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills, Md., that was more than enough to know what's brewing.
Case in point: injuries and absentees. The report: no bueno, Cuervos, as the franchise confirmed when they released their official Injury Report ahead of the Week 2 matchup against the divisional foes Cincinnati Bengals on the road.
Of the five players listed by the Ravens on Wednesday's IR, only Mark Andrews actually graced the fields of The Castle and even then he did so in "limited" capacity. Ugh.
Andrews seemed to be limited in his drills and exercises following a bunch of missed practices last week and his ultimate ruling out for Week 1 last Sunday. The starting tight end is still trying to come back from a quad injury suffered in mid-August while warming up for a preseason game.
Last week, Andrews missed part of Wednesday's session, didn't train on Thursday, and simply couldn't make it to the field of The Bank on Sunday to face the Houston Texans in the season opener. The franchise erred on the safe side of things, giving Andrews one more week of recovery time, but it's still unclear if he will be available in Week 2.
Baltimore Ravens missed four starters on Wednesday's practice
Not only did the Ravens list Andrews in their latest injury report, but more concerningly they added four more starters to it in CB Marlon Humphrey (foot), S Marcus Williams (pectoral), C Tyler Linderbaum (ankle), and T Ronnie Stanley (knee).
Of those four players, only Humphrey missed Week 1 while recovering from an offseason injury and then surgery on his foot. The other three went down thorugh the season-opening game against the Texans in a disastrous day for the health bill of the Ravens even in victory.
Humphrey had foot surgery in mid-August and was originally given around a "month-long" timeline to make his comeback. That'd be fulfilled on Sunday, but considering he's not practiced once since he went under the knife it's just more than improbable to think he'll be out there this weekend.
If Humphrey doesn't play, the Ravens should be expected to use Ronald Darby and Brandon Stephens as their starting cornerbacks with Rock Ya-Sin taking more snaps as he gets closer to a 100% fitness level and Ar'Darius Washington manning the slot against the Bengals.
Marcus Williams is still deciding whether or not to undergo surgery on his torn pectoral muscle, and he's expected to miss multiple weeks. Geno Stone should be the next man up and his instant replacement, with Daryl Worley getting called up from the Practice Squad to back Stone up.
With Stanley and Linderbaum listed as "week-to-week" in terms of their availability, the two men expected to step up into the starting lineup are veteran swing tackle Patrick Mekari and former Chicago Bears center Sam Mustipher.
The Ravens also signed 10-year veteran safety Duron Harmon on Tuesday and offensive lineman Kyle Fuller on Wednesday to their Practice Squad. Depending on how the franchise shuffles their roster, both players might be activated for Sunday's Week 2 clash against Cincinnati to bolster the offensive line and the secondary of the Flock.
Adding wood to the fire, the Bengals released a pretty clean injury report themselves on Wednesday featuring only one "DNP" player in defensive end Cam Sample. Sheesh.