OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Though disappointed over Breshad Perriman being placed on injured reserve, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh says he doesn’t have any long-term concerns about the health of the rookie wide receiver’s right knee.
After Perriman suffered a sprained posterior cruciate ligament on July 30 and never recovered to the point that he could play this season, Harbaugh was asked Wednesday whether there were fears about his prognosis for the future and if there was a degenerative issue that caused his longer-than-expected recovery.
“Not that I’ve been told,” Harbaugh said. “To me, it’s still a hard one to understand. [There are] better people to ask than me about that. I’m just disappointed. And I’ll tell you Breshad is disappointed, and we’re all disappointed.
“I had a chance to talk to him [Tuesday] probably for the first time in-depth, because he was hard to talk to before. You couldn’t talk to him. You’ve seen him around. He was just so down about the whole thing. He seemed a little more at peace with his future, and he was excited about the progress he’s making.”
After suffering the injury that was initially diagnosed as a bruise on the day it occurred, Perriman eventually practiced on a limited basis for two days in late September before suffering a setback prior to the Ravens’ Week 3 game against Cincinnati at M&T Bank Stadium. He underwent arthroscopic surgery a few days later, but the 6-foot-2 wideout never got close to returning to the practice field.
Harbaugh said Wednesday that he wasn’t “really involved” in the decision to place Perriman on IR as general manager Ozzie Newsome ultimately made the roster move on Tuesday. The first receiver drafted in the first round by the Ravens since 2005, Perriman is the only first-round pick in franchise history not to play a single game as a rookie.
Now, Baltimore will enter the offseason not truly knowing what they have in Perriman as an NFL receiver.
“I know that — and Ozzie told me this — we were very hopeful that we could get him out there,” Harbaugh said. “We were waiting as long as we could to see if that could happen, and it just didn’t look like it could happen. That’s really the extent that I’m aware of what’s going on with that.”
Reed of Honor
The Ravens will officially induct free safety Ed Reed into their Ring of Honor on Sunday, which will serve as a pleasant distraction from a disappointing 2015 season.
A nine-time Pro Bowl selection and a surefire Hall of Fame inductee one day, Reed is regarded by many as one of the three best players in franchise history along with Hall of Fame left tackle Jonathan Ogden and middle linebacker Ray Lewis.
“When you’re here for the time period I was here and what he was doing, a pick-six was a normality; you thought that happened every weekend everywhere,” said quarterback Joe Flacco, who played five seasons with Reed. “It was crazy how many times he was able to do that and make game-changing plays. It was pretty special.”
Regarded as one of the best ball-hawking safeties in the history of the NFL, Reed was also a dynamic special-teams player early in his career. That point wasn’t lost on St. Louis head coach Jeff Fisher, who was victimized by Reed when he coached the Tennessee Titans.
“The first thing that comes to mind is whoever is your wing on punt team is going to have a rough day, because nobody rushed the punter better then Ed over his career,” Fisher said. “I was really impressed with what he did. And that just kind of shows and speaks volumes to the player that he was. Because he was not only the safety — and one of the best safeties to ever play the game — but parts of the game that were important to him, he took them seriously and was really productive.”
Officiating disenchantment
Asked to react to the NFL confirming that a false start should have been called at the end of Sunday’s game that would have resulted in a 20-19 win over Jacksonville, Harbaugh made it apparent that he’s miffed with officiating on a weekly basis.
“We’ve sent in 16 other plays,” Harbaugh said. “We do that every week, and the vast majority of them come back [with], ‘Yes, you’re right. Yes, you’re right. Yes, you’re right.’ I feel the same way about that play as I feel about the other issues that we have every single week.”
Does the eighth-year head coach believe it’s been more of a problem around the league this season?
“I’m not going to get into that,” Harbaugh said. “We’re trying to take care of the Rams. That’s what we have to focus on. That’s why I can’t think about it. We can’t afford to be dwelling on that.”
