We really, as a fanbase, need to stop with the "injuries" crutch. You are aware that other teams suffer injuries as well and while their level of play may diminish they don't crap the bed like we do. Do I expect the 3rd string to play like the 1st string? No. Do I expect them to play beyond a pee wee level? Yes and that isn't the case.
yes every team suffers injuries, yes it shouldnt be a generic excuse but if you look at the finer details it should be obvious why its a legitimate excuse to a certain extent for the ravens: the ravens are leading the league in i/r which is by the by (by definition then the rest of the league is not suffering as many injuries as us) but more importantly look at where those injuries are mostly happening... i.e. the trenches - no team has lost their top 4 guards by the end of week 3 no other team has lost a higher proportion of snaps on the dline - these are hard things to overcome
not only that but where are defence is suffering is on crossing routes and routes over the middle which happen to often be where receivers are operating out of the slot... we have lost our top 3 slot corners... no other team is 3 deep let alone 4 deep at slot corner
to put that into context - we not only lost our starters at guard, we lost both of our backups, in a league with a dearth of oline no team is built 3 deep on the interior
we've lost urban who played the most snaps of any of our dline, we lost brandon williams so far for 2 weeks and it looks like its likely to be 4 or more who is the lifeblood of that dline
we've lost young for the year, we've lost canady for most of the year, and jaylen hill is only just starting to practice again - at this point even with the dline woes the biggest hole on our defence is slot corner
in all these cases i think you are also overstating how bad those 3rd stringers are playing - i know you said you dont expect them to play like 1st stringers but the way you talk about them suggests that you kind of are... hurst has been ok as a 3rd string left guard - he's been passable if not dominant, the problem has been at right guard... what do you expect of an undersized 6th guard (because not only is he 3rd string he's playing with another 3rd stringer) and you know what? the line while bad has not been anywhere near the worst in the league which is admirable given all the horrendous losses they've suffered
on the dline we've allowed some large gains now but most are coming on the edge where we have our young edge linebackers who are losing contain - now that's a problem but i cant fault the front office given that its the area of the defence (outside of the secondary) that they attacked the most in the offseason by adding 2 day 2 picks
and at slot corner webby has been gashed but he's essentially a reserve safety at this point in his career who has been thrust into playing a role he is no longer quick enough for - and while he has been beaten he also has 2 pretty big interceptions for the defence in that role too
despite this narrative you're peddling we have coped with injuries pretty damn well given who we've lost and how many we've lost
we have the most legitimate case in the league for arguing that injuries have killed us
and to your point that other teams dont crap the bed when they have injuries - look at the rest of the league and tell me that there arent some formerly good teams who are absolutely crapping the bed when just 1 or 2 players go down at certain positions...
