Baltimore Brings Big Injury Issues Into Week 2

The 0-1 Baltimore Ravens are dealing with a ridiculous number of season-threatening injuries, and former MVP Lamar Jackson really has his work cut out for him against the 1-0 Kansas City Chiefs.

J.K Dobbins and Gus Edwards took the lion's share of non-Lamar rushes for the Ravens last year, and they're on Baltimore's injured reserve list. This cultivates serious concern for the team that led football in rushing yards last season. Receivers Miles Boykin and Rashod Bateman are also on Baltimore's injured reserve list, while Marquise Brown and Devin Duvernay are both listed as questionoable for today's game after getting limited time in practice on Friday. That's not to mention a list of guys missing from the Ravens defense that includes edge rusher Derek Wolfe and old friend Marcus Peters. How will so many meaningful injuries affect Baltimore when they face Kansas City tonight, and how will the Chiefs take advantage?

Baltimore lost a thriller last Monday night to the Las Vegas Raiders. Another old friend Sammy Watkins and running back Ty'Son Williams helped Lamar keep the Baltimore offense moving, but the Ravens defense kept giving up big plays until it cost them the game. Vegas tight end Darren Waller looked particularly dominant against the Ravens last week, catching ten passes for 105 yards and a score. Luckily for Baltimore, the Chiefs are totally mediocre at the tight end position and have always lacked a real stand-out star. Jordy Fortson looks pretty good, I guess.

The Chiefs have concerns of their own to worry about, but it's difficult to get past Baltimore's current flaws following their loss to the Raiders and the aforementioned list of injury issues. I'm not so sure that Kansas City's potential weakness against a strong rushing attack will really doom them when they face off against a team that just let Derek Carr lob bombs to wide-open targets downfield when the game was on the line. Baltimore allowed Vegas to pile up 491 total yards on offense- the most allowed by any defense in Week 1.

Adjustments and improvements should be made to a well-coached Ravens D that ranked third league-wide in yards per attempt allowed last season. Still, if Derek Carr can throw for 435 yards on this Baltimore secondary, what's possible for Patrick? I'm predicting a 34-24 victory for the Chiefs, as Travis Kelce adds another great performance to his Hall of Fame resume and Lamar yet again looks great in defeat.