BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Ravens ruled quarterback Lamar Jackson out for Saturday’s game in Cleveland.
It appears Tyler Huntley will start for Baltimore after clearing the concussion protocol, however Ravens head coach John Harbaugh did not say he would start.
“He is out of the protocol to my understanding,” Harbaugh told reporters in Baltimore. “He cleared the protocol either last night or this morning, whenever it was.”
Huntley was not given an injury designation on the Ravens’ final injury report.
Even with Jackson sidelined, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett remembers how elusive Huntley can be from last December’s 24-22 win over the Ravens that saw the backup QB complete 27 of 38 passes for 270 yards and a touchdown.
“He’s fast, he's elusive,” Garrett said. “He's a lot of the things that Lamar is really, he just needs a little bit more polish and I think he could be that capable of a player if he gets a chance somewhere. But I mean it just felt like you were trying to chase down a chicken with like, I don't know, doused in honey or something. He shook me, he shook JD, he took down one of the Maliks and then another play got the other Malik. It was ridiculous. It was all in like a two-play span. But I mean the guy’s athletically one of the top guys in the league, so we just have to be prepared for that. Try to keep him in the pocket like we would Lamar and treat him with a lot of respect.”
Garrett was able to strip-sack Huntley, scoop up the loose ball and return it for a touchdown in that win and he is eying another scoop and score opportunity this weekend.
“I'd like to get my hand on a ball again, not just a strip-sack. I’d like to take to the end zone to be more specific,” Garrett said. “But yeah I see a little bit of opportunity. He's given us one, the mindset to always go get another one. Why not? And if it's not me, I’ll free someone else to do it. Allow ourselves to put us in a position to win on defense. You don't always have to put it on special teams or the offense. You can go out and win it yourself. If you don’t score, you don’t win.”
Standing up for Woods – Joe Woods has come under fire this season with his defense continuing to struggle to produce in key situations this season, but Garrett defended the Browns defensive coordinator Friday.
“He's top dog in the room and when he says something it goes,” Garrett said. “And if we have any changes in mind or things that we'd like to do or looks that we think we'd like to see, he's open to ideas. So we're just going to follow his lead for this next game, the next four games because he's gonna put us in position to win.”
Garrett isn’t getting wrapped up in the fire Woods chatter going on outside the building.
“I only hear that chatter when y'all tell it to me. I don't go out and look for it and then it usually doesn't find my phone,” Garrett said. “So, no, I don't get much of a commentary here for fire Joe Woods or new DC, all that doesn't mean anything to me. We are what we are. He's our DC, and at the end of the day we're on the field executing his calls, whether it's a perfect call or not.
“I don't believe in perfect calls, we have to go out there and execute whatever he calls and make him right. Could there be better calls for situations? Of course. But he's not perfect, neither are we. So we have to be able to go out there and make the most out of it and perform at a high level.”
Opportunity knocks – Four season-ending injuries at linebacker, including most recently to Sione Takitaki and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah have opened the door for special teamer Jordan Kunaszyk to receive an expanded role.
“To see all of them go down, I mean, it hurts my heart,” Kunaszyk said. “And to be honest, I'd rather them not go down and them be playing rather than me get the opportunity at the expense of somebody else getting hurt. You always hope that you earn the job outright. But with that being said, I know that all of them would want whoever steps in to do the best with that opportunity.”
Kunaszyk is most comfortable at the MIKE position, otherwise known as the quarterback for the defense, and it’s where he’s seen most of his reps at but he’s prepared to be flexible wherever Woods uses him.
“Everybody at every position, whether you're starting a year on practice squad or whether you're a second or third stringer, you're preparing and you gotta be ready to go because quite frankly the job’s still gotta get done,” Kunaszyk said. “It doesn't really matter what depth you are starting the year, or if you're a second string, third string, fourth string. The opposing team doesn't care and the coaching staff and organization doesn't really care either. They expect somebody to step in and do the job.”
Successful surgery – Browns linebacker Sione Takitaki underwent successful surgery to repair a torn right ACL.
Takitaki posted a brief clip of him riding in a car following the procedure with his leg resting fully extended followed by a message: “Surgery went Great! Excited to show the world how resilient I am! The get back” on his Instagram story.
Injury report – QUESTIONABLE: WR David Bell (thumb); EXPECTED TO PLAY: DE Jadeveon Clowney (rest/ankle), WR Amari Cooper (rest/hip), S John Johnson III (knee), DE Myles Garrett (rest/shoulder), LG Joel Bitonio (rest), RT Jack Conklin (rest), TE David Njoku (knee), CB Denzel Ward (shoulder), C Hjalte Froholdt (ankle), CB AJ Green (toe), DE Chase Winovich (knee).
Up next – Walkthrough and meetings Friday, vs. Ravens Saturday.