The 2016 season hasn’t even started yet, but it’s beginning to sound a lot like last year for the Ravens on the injury front.
Outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil said he won’t play Week 1 against the Bills, according to Pro Football Talk.
Dumervil had six sacks last season but had foot surgery during the offseason and didn’t start practicing until late August. Part of the reason Dumervil went from 17 sacks in 2014 to six last season is the fact that blockers didn’t have to worry about Terrell Suggs on the other side of the field.
Suggs went down in Week 1 last year with a torn Achilles and missed the season, and the bad news kept coming for the Ravens in 2015. Steve Smith Sr. missed the last nine games of the season with a ruptured Achilles and Joe Flacco was lost in Week 11 with a torn ACL. The injury-ravaged Ravens finished the season 5-11.
The good news for the Ravens is that Suggs, Flacco and Smith are ready to go for Sunday’s opener at home. But they’ll need Dumervil on the field if they hope to catch up with the Steelers and Bengals and once again make the AFC North a three-team race.
