OWINGS MILLS, Md. — After two quiet games in his return from offseason foot surgery, Ravens linebacker Elvis Dumervil won’t play against the New York Giants on Sunday.
The 32-year-old resurfaced on the injury report this week and missed all three practices before officially being ruled out on Friday afternoon. Head coach John Harbaugh said he was not aware of any discussion of Dumervil’s season being in jeopardy, but there is obvious frustration with his lack of progress after he was originally expected to be ready for the start of the 2016 season.
Given the timing of this latest shutdown, Dumervil would appear unlikely to return until after the Week 8 bye.
“We’re hoping to get him back sooner rather than later,” Harbaugh said. “When that will be? I’m hoping sooner. We’ll see, but it’s a strength issue in his foot and his ankle. It’s got to be right. He went out there two weeks ago [and] last week, and that explosiveness really wasn’t there and he wasn’t really able to get into a tackle and really push like he needs to. We reexamined it and found that the strength probably isn’t quite where it needs to be, and we just need to get it there.”
Dumervil originally made it to the practice field on Aug. 22 before suffering a setback with his surgically-repaired foot just a few days later, forcing him out of the entire preseason as well as the first three games of the 2016 campaign. In 45 total snaps against Oakland and Washington the last two weeks, Dumervil failed to record a tackle and registered just one quarterback hit.
With the five-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker once again ailing, the Ravens will need someone from the young group of Za’Darius Smith, Matt Judon, and Kamalei Correa to step up to offer pass-rush ability opposite 14th-year veteran Terrell Suggs off the edge. Suggs leads Baltimore with four sacks over the first five games.
“We want to get pressure with whoever is out there playing,” Harbaugh said. “Those guys are big guys. They are important to us. They are big powerful guys [and] young. They will get pressure, there is no question.”
