It’s Packers at Ravens in Band-Aid Bowl
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Call this the Band-Aid Bowl.
The Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens, who have battled and conquered more injury issues than any teams in the NFL this season, will collide in a showdown of powerhouses on Sunday in Baltimore.
No teams have faced more injury adversity than these teams. In fact, according to ManGamesLost.com, the Ravens and the Packers have been most impacted by their injuries.
Man Games Lost (subscription required) uses a metric called “Lost.av.” Lost-av measures the injury impact based on a player’s Approximate Value from the previous season. What’s Approximate Value? Created by Pro Football Reference, Approximate Value is an attempt to put a single number on the seasonal value of a player at any position from any year.
For the Packers, it hasn’t been the sheer number of injuries – they’re 17th in that regard – but the quality of players who’ve been injured. In fact, by Lost.av, left tackle David Bakhtiari is the most-impactful injury in the league this year, outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith is second and cornerback Jaire Alexander is seventh.
Alexander and Bakhtiari, at least, are on the comeback trail, giving the team a chance to get a major boost for the playoffs. Alexander practiced the last two weeks but will miss a 10th consecutive game, and Bakhtiari restarted his comeback this week following the ACL tear sustained 353 days ago.
For the Ravens, the problem has been quantity and quality. Baltimore has endured the third-most injuries. Cornerback Marcus Peters, running back J.K. Dobbins and left tackle Ronnie Stanley rank among the 15 most-impactful injuries. They recently passed Green Bay as the team most impacted by injuries.
The Packers will face the Ravens without their five-time All-Pro left tackle Bakhtiari, Pro Bowl left guard Elgton Jenkins, steady veteran right tackle Billy Turner and rookie center Josh Myers. Playmaking tight end Robert Tonyan, veteran receiver Randall Cobb and veteran outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus also are on injured reserve, and stud defensive tackle Kenny Clark is on the COVID list.
While 80 percent of Green Bay’s offensive line will be in street clothes, 80 percent of Baltimore’s starting secondary will be out, as well. At cornerback, Peters and Marlon Humphrey are on injured reserve; at safety, DeShon Elliott is on injured reserve and Chuck Clark is on the COVID list. Making matters worse, cornerback Chris Westry went on the COVID list on Saturday and veteran cornerback Jimmy Smith went on the COVID list on Sunday. The last man standing among their preferred starters is slot Tavon Young.
And yet, the Packers started the week with a 10-3 record and the top spot in the NFC, and the Ravens were 8-5 and a game out of the top spot in the AFC.
“I think whenever you’re dealing with injuries, any injury, as a coach you just have to plan with what you have and what you’re working with, and you want to prepare everybody like a starter,” Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said. “That’s so important. Just the way it is around this building and how we’ve set it up. Everybody works so hard and is ready to go in at a moment’s notice. We saw this past week watching Dennis Kelly, what he did [at right tackle in place of Turner]. He went in there and played a great game. So, everybody’s ready to play and anybody that we have that’s up, I think that they’ll be able to give great effort and know what to do, which’ll be great.”
On Sunday, what’s left of these juggernauts will square off in a game dripping with playoff ramifications.
Do the Packers have enough competent blockers to hold off Baltimore’s attacking defense? Do the Ravens have enough competent defensive backs to slow hot-but-hobbled Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers? And can the Ravens win if Tyler Huntley has to replace Jackson?
“We feel really confident about Tyler,” Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman said this week. “Whether he starts the game, or enters the game at some point, we feel really good about him [with] the direction he’s going and the development he’s shown. I think he’s doing a lot of really good things, and we just have to clean up some things. But really, I think everybody believes in him. Lamar has won quite a few games, and Tyler won the Chicago game. I think he’s a winner, and everybody believes in him.”
