The Baltimore Ravens were as dominant as they could be against a fellow Super Bowl contender on their Christmas night matchup at the San Francisco 49ers as they beat them 33-19 and moved to an NFL-best 12-3 record. The win, however, came with a few more injuries affecting the Ravens' roster and putting some players' availability in question for next weekend.
Most prominently, safety Kyle Hamilton had to exit the game in the fourth quarter with a knee injury suffered late in the matchup. Promisingly, however, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh provided a brief update on his Monday presser after the game saying, "It doesn't look bad for anybody."
Harbaugh revealed that the Ravens would run further tests on Tuesday, of which we haven't heard anything about at the time of this writing on Wednesday morning. The Ravens should release an injury report, the first of the week before facing the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, later today.
The coach calmed the nerves of Ravens fans on Monday, however, claiming "We're fairly optimistic about everybody."
"It doesn't look bad for anybody [that was injured in the game]. We will see tomorrow to ensure that. We're fairly optimistic about everybody."John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens HC
On top of losing Hamilton, the Ravens also saw offensive linemen Patrick Mekari (head) and Kevin Zeitler (thigh) getting injured in the Week 16 game played on the road in Santa Clara.
Hamilton, playing his sophomore season after getting drafted with a first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, has racked up 81 tackles, three sacks, one forced fumble, four interceptions (one of them returned for a touchdown), and 13 batted passes this campaign.
Mekari is the no. 1 backup and rotational piece on the Ravens offensive line. He's logged 521 snaps already even on that secondary role, which ranks 61st in the NFL among all players at the OT position. He has allowed only seven sacks this year with two penalties called on him.
Zeitler has started all games for the Ravens this year while appearing on 982 snaps (16th-most among guards) while allowing just two sacks and getting called for four penalties through Week 16.
Looking ahead to Week 17, Baltimore will host the Miami Dolphins (11-4) in a game that could seal the No. 1 seed in the AFC for the Ravens and give them a bye week once the postseason gets rolling, as long as they beat Miami. That could also allow Baltimore to sit their starters in their regular-season finale in Week 18, scheduled for Jan. 7 against the Pittsburgh Steelers inside The Bank.