Tyler Huntley likely to start against Browns as Ravens continue playoff push

It appears as though Tyler Huntley will start at quarterback again for the Ravens on Saturday.

The Ravens’ backup quarterback, who left Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers after being evaluated for a concussion, practiced in full on Wednesday and Thursday and is out of the NFL’s concussion protocol, putting him in line to play when the Ravens (9-4) face the Cleveland Browns (5-8).

Usual starter Lamar Jackson, nursing a reported sprained PCL in his left knee, hasn’t practiced at all for the second straight week and it’s doubtful he will suit up. Ravens coach John Harbaugh declined to name a starter when he met with the media on Thursday at the team’s practice facility, but Huntley spoke to reporters right after him and said he felt good.

“Clearly, I’m safe enough to play this week,” he said.

Barring a surprise before 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Huntley will make his second straight start as the Ravens look to stay atop the AFC North and eye a playoff berth with four weeks left in the regular season. Undrafted rookie Anthony Brown, who came off the bench to help the Ravens beat the Steelers 16-14, would be Huntley’s backup again.

Huntley entered the NFL’s concussion protocol after being walloped high by Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and held low by defensive tackle Montravius Adams in the third quarter of Sunday’s game. It looked like Huntley could have injured his left ankle as he was bent backward, but he was later evaluated by an independent doctor at Acrisure Stadium for a concussion.

After the game, Harbaugh said Huntley appeared fine. (“He’s reciting the months of the year backwards,” Harbaugh told a reporter. “Can you do that right now?”) The quarterback later questioned the decision to prevent him from returning to the game, telling teammate Marlon Humphrey on an Instagram Live video on the team flight back from Pittsburgh that it was “a little B.S.”

“They asked me crazy little questions when we were doing the protocol,” Huntley said. “At that moment, I’m focused on football. I’m not worried about A-B-C, 1-2-3 … I’m good.”

On Thursday, Huntley told reporters he didn’t think he had a concussion, didn’t experience any symptoms, and was told he needed to be evaluated by someone from the NFL after they saw the hit he absorbed, but also the protocols did their job to keep him safe.

The NFL has emphasized brain safety, though the process is by nature subjective.

In the same game Sunday, Steelers rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett was evaluated for a concussion, returned to a play a series, then was ruled out after being evaluated again. You might remember earlier this year Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was allowed to keep playing after appearing wobbly on the field after a blow to the head, and the independent consultant who evaluated him was ultimately fired by the NFL Players Association, which is allowed under an agreement with the league.

The NFL’s return-to-participation concussion protocol includes several phases before a player can be cleared to practice or play. They start with light exercise and eventually include going through football-specific exercises without showing signs of a concussion and non-contact training drills without recurrence of symptoms, which Huntley appeared to satisfy Tuesday after participating in a walkthrough practice.

The final piece is full football activity, and sign off from the team doctor and an independent neurological consultant assigned to the team. Huntley practiced in full Wednesday and went through another walkthrough on Thursday — a late-season, short-week decision to give the team some rest, Harbaugh said — ahead of a rare Saturday game.

Earlier this week, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said Cleveland would prepare for all the Ravens’ QB options. “We’ll wait and see which quarterback we get,” he said. “I know this: they’re all good. They all can hurt you from the pocket. They can hurt you on the move. They can hurt you in the run game.”

Of Huntley specifically, Stefanski noted the Browns, whom the Ravens beat 23-20 in mid-October, faced him near the end of last season when Huntley relieved Jackson after he went down with an ankle injury. Cleveland won that game, 24-22, last December, the second of six straight losses to end the season. Huntley was 27-for-38 passing for 270 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 45 yards.

“We know what he’s capable of,” Stefanski said. “Just a really, really good football player. Hard to get on the ground whether they run him by design or scrambling. Accurate with his throws. Really an impressive quarterback.”

Huntley, meanwhile, has been asked to better protect himself when he does run the football. Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman said he had a “nice little chat” with Huntley early this week about protecting himself. “He’s definitely more aware of it now,” Roman said.

Huntley said he would do his best, though he made no promises. “I’m an aggressive player,” he said. “I try to get the first down on every down, or a touchdown. He told me to slide a little. I’m going to work on [that].

“It’s hard because it’s a 0.5-second decision that you have to make. … Too [many] times, I’m not thinking about that, I’m trying to get the first down. I’m going to start putting the thought into that 0.5 seconds.”

Dobbins’ patience is key

Ravens running back J.K. Dobbins’ has been persistent coming back from a major surgical reconstruction of his left knee, and he said after his 120-yard game against the Steelers on Sunday he needed to be patient too while rehabbing his injuries.

That trait appears to have carried over on the field too.

In Dobbins’ first game in eight weeks on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers and since having surgery to clear out scar tissue in his knee, keen observers noted his patience, which can be an overlooked skill for a running back. Dobbins frequently waited for the Ravens’ blocking schemes to develop — resisting the urge to dart forward and instead pausing while offensive linemen reached their assignments — including on his four-yard, first-quarter touchdown run.

During training camp in 2021, Dobbins, a second-round draft pick preparing for his second season, proclaimed he wanted “to be one of the greatest” backs in the NFL in the mold of the New Orleans Saints’ Alvin Kamara or then-Carolina Panthers star Christian McCaffrey, who are effective runners and pass-catchers.

A few weeks later, Dobbins tore two knee ligaments, meniscus and a hamstring in the Ravens’ final preseason game.

“That was the worst thing ever,” he said Sunday, “Top 5 hardest moments in my life.”

The 23-year-old missed all of last season while rehabbing and saw action in four games earlier this year before electing to have a scope on his knee to relieve pressure and improve his flexibility. It worked. After all that, he appears to be getting back on the path he envisioned for himself 16 months ago.

“I thought he did a great job of reading the holes,” Roman said of Dobbins’ 15-carry performance against the Steelers, “a little bit of patience — not too — but just enough.

“J.K. is a really good player. After that procedure he had, I really think it visibly has helped him. He’s physically closer to where he would like to be, but he does a really good job of finding the hole. He has good vision, and explosion ... He’s a really good back. He should just keep getting better from here on out.”

NFL owners greenlight renovation funds

At league winter meetings in Dallas this week, NFL owners approved plans passed by the Maryland General Assembly earlier this year for $1.2 billion in public funds to be split between renovations to the Ravens’ home stadium and the Orioles’ Camden Yards.

Per a report from the sports business news outlet Front Office Sports, citing a source familiar with the private owners meetings, the approval was one of several made by team owners for the construction of new NFL stadiums or upgrades of existing ones.

The vote in favor of the M&T Bank Stadium upgrades, which are not yet detailed, passed along with approvals for a new $2.1 billion stadium for the Tennessee Titans and construction of a $1.4 billion stadium for the Buffalo Bills.

The funding is tied to state bond issuances and ongoing discussions about long-term lease agreements with both teams, officials have said.

Playoff tickets on sale

Tickets for a potential Ravens’ home playoff game the weekend of Jan. 14 went on sale Thursday.

With the Ravens tied atop the AFC North standings with 9-4 Cincinnati, and holding a head-to-head tiebreaker, Baltimore is currently holding the third-overall seed in the AFC playoff race. The Ravens face the Bengals again in their regular-season finale.

Division winners will be guaranteed at least one home playoff game and the conference’s top overall seed receives a first-round bye. The next three seeds will host a home Wild Card game.

Corey McLaughlin is a veteran writer and editor who has covered sports in Baltimore for a decade, including for Baltimore magazine, USA Lacrosse Magazine and several other publications.