Ravens Repping Rookie Guard At Center, Desperate To Find New Offensive Linemen

The Ravens are prepping rookie guard Vega Ioane to possibly start at center this week, head coach Jesse Minter said Monday, in just his fourth NFL game, while bracing for prolonged absences from centers Jovaughn Gwyn and Ethan Pocic and trying to find replacements via other practice squads, trades or free agency.

Baltimore’s offensive line was an obvious suspect area of the roster entering the season, general manager Eric DeCosta has misfired in the draft and refused to invest real money and assets in its starting group and backups, and it’s dragging down both the running and passing game. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley (toe), is a possibility to play Sunday, according to Minter, who said “it’s going to be in that range,” when asked if Gwyn and Pocic could be headed to Injured Reserve (a mandatory four-week absence).

Minter also addressed his struggling defense and the continued issues with penalties during his Monday press conference, with the team landing back in Maryland around 9 am, and while Ioane did an excellent job filling in snapping late in Sunday’s wild win over Dallas in Brazil, this is hardly an ideal script for a five-man unit already under duress. The Titans are winless heading to Baltimore, but boast one of the most menacing defensive tackles in the NFL in Jeffery Simmons

“For this particular game, as we sort through making our roster better over the next coupe of days, he’ll be prepared to potentially play that position,” Minter said of Ioane at center.

The Ravens were having major issues defending the A Gap already, particularly with stunts up front and linebackers blitzing, and Ioane is still just getting adjusted to NFL life. “Major shoutout to him,” Minter said for the job he did Sunday, while crediting the staff for recognizing how thin they were at center with depth option Danny Pinter lost for the season in training camp and developmental prospect Corey Bullock plucked away by the Panthers at roster cutdowns.

Holes To Fill

Getting Stanley back – he is far and away the most veteran and accomplished member of this unit – would definitely settle things down some. Youngster Carson Vinson held down the blindside in Brazil but the Ravens were betting running to the right side and there is enough already being asked of inexperienced members of this unit.

“We gave this a chance to get right,” Minter said of Stanley’s toe injury while not declaring he would absolutely be back for Week 4. Having Vinson as the tackle eligible would be the ideal scenario for the Titans game.

Veteran guard John Simpson, given $10M to upgrade from terrible guard play last year, has suffered in pass protection and succumbed to repeated penalties. He’s allowed five pressures and five hurries and been beat five times already this season, Gwyn (seven pressures, four hurries and three beats) was getting mauled before his injury and Pocic, coming off Achilles surgery, was blown up on a fourth-and-goal play from the 1, with Derrick Henry getting pushed three yards back.

“We ended up letting the inside backer run through, unfortunately,” Minter put it kindly.

The Ravens let star center Tyler Linderbaum depart in free agency, who has helped the Raiders (3-0) reverse their fortunes. But hey, they get a comp pick in return and that's DeCosta's favorite fetish.

Dire Situation

The Ravens have the third-worst pressure rate allowed in the NFL at over 44% - worse that last year when the line wrecked their season and negated the redzone, goal line and short yardage offenses. Henry, age 32, averaged a paltry 0.38 yards before contact Sunday on 26 rushes – he needs a solid 1.5 to get going – and he ran 13 times for 41 yards in the second half, with 29 coming on one carry. The Ravens had 24% of their runs Sunday go for no yards or negative yards against a bad run defense despite Henry facing an 8-man box only about 33% of the time.

Without Jackson's mobility and athletic genius, this offense would be totally cooked, and now he will likely be adjusting to a center who didn’t play the position regularly in college who also lacks any experience or expertise in this offense.

“Lamar is the ultimate ‘make-it-work’ player,” Minter said. “He will make it right. He doesn’t let stuff like that bother him.”

He also doesn't have a long-term contract, or an offensive line.

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