Getty Calais Campbell before a Ravens game.
The Baltimore Ravens played a hard hitting, physical game against the Indianapolis Colts and emerged with a key 24-10 victory. That victory was not without cost for the team’s defense however.
During the win, pass rusher Calais Campbell limped off the field in obvious pain and did not return to action. The only question was how bad would things get for Campbell and the Ravens, and an answer has come on Monday.
Perhaps surprisingly, the news is better than most in the moment may have assumed. Campbell figures to miss a couple of weeks, but perhaps not more than that in the long run. This news was broken by NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport on Monday afternoon.
From NFL Now: #Ravens DL Calais Campbell will miss time with a calf strain. The details 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
Rapoport said:
“My understanding is Calais Campbell is diagnosed with a calf strain, one that will likely keep him off the field about 2-3 weeks. Worst case scenario I was told 4 weeks. In other words, probably not going to see Calais Campbell on the field for a little bit. This is a team that obviously has serious big time playoff aspirations, Super Bowl aspirations. Nothing that happened yesterday for Calais Campbell is going to rob him of those, he’s just going to have to rest it a little bit and make sure that this is a calf strain that does not linger deep into the season.”
The Ravens have remained healthy enough this season, but losing Campbell is a definite blow to a defensive line that needs the help up front getting after the pocket. The hope is that Campbell can be as healthy as this, considering the team likely does not want to have to go without him much longer than the expected timeline the rest of the way.
Regardless, this will be a test for the team’s defense even though the injury doesn’t figure to be long in nature.
Ravens Have Pass Rushing Depth
Earlier this season, the Ravens would not have been able to absorb such a hit in terms of injury. Fortunately for the team, they have named such as Yannick Ngakoue, Matt Judon, Patrick Queen, Marlon Humphrey and DeShon Elliott just to name a few. Subtracting Campbell is tough considering he leads the team in sacks (4), but the expectation is the Ravens will still be able to pressure the pocket enough in his absence.
This depth will now be tested in a big way with injury to Campbell playing out.
Calais Campbell Stats
Coming to Baltimore, Campbell enters as one of the team’s most productive defensive linemen. At 33, he has piled up 696 tackles and 88 sacks. He was a former second round pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2008, and most recently played for the Jacksonville Jaguars until a trade sent him to the Ravens this offseason. That’s a deal in which many believe the Ravens scored in a big way considering these numbers.
This season, Campbell leads the team in sacks with 4, and has also put up some solid numbers with regards to tackles given the 24 he has piled up this season. As a whole, those are solid numbers for the team and something that isn’t likely to be replaced with relative ease.
Obviously, this production will now be missed in a big way, but the hope for the Ravens is Campbell can heal up and manage to come back to do more damage into the future. That is the hope for the team the rest of the way in 2020.
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