OWINGS MILLS, Md. — One of the bright spots for the Ravens in Sunday’s 27-22 loss to Pittsburgh was Keaton Mitchell finding daylight for his longest run of 2025 and longest since his serious knee injury two years ago.
Unfortunately, the 55-yard run in the third quarter ended with the third-year running back limping off the field with a knee injury and not returning to the game. After expressing uncertainty about the severity of the injury immediately following the game, however, head coach John Harbaugh provided an encouraging update on the speedy Mitchell on Monday.
“It’s day to day. We got good news, so we’ll see where we’re at tomorrow and Wednesday,” Harbaugh said. “I am looking forward to that.”
Mitchell didn’t make his season debut until Week 5 after dealing with a groin injury during the preseason, but his involvement in the offense has been a positive for a rushing attack that’s been a more complicated evaluation than in recent seasons, especially with two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson playing through an array of leg injuries and running less than ever. Still ranking third in the NFL in rushing yards per game (142.9) and second in yards per carry (5.0) might suggest the 2025 Ravens are in line with where they’ve been for most of the Jackson era, but they’ve fallen to 22nd in success rate (40.1%), which measures efficiency based on the down and distance for any given play.
For comparison, the Ravens ranked second in rushing success rate last season and no lower than sixth from 2018-23.
Baltimore is tied for third in rushes of 20 or more yards (13) and tied for second in runs of 40 or more yards (five), which speaks to the ground attack still being plenty explosive. The issue is what’s happening between those long gains as we’ve seen the running game be less consistent inside the red zone, in short-yardage spots, and on early downs that have created third-and-long situations. Derrick Henry remains the lead back and just went over 1,000 yards for the seventh time in his career in Sunday’s loss, but his success rate has fallen from a remarkable 68.2% last season to 55% in 2025 and he isn’t breaking as many tackles this season as he did when he was flirting with 2,000 rushing yards in 2024.
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The offensive line and its inability to win at the line of scrimmage consistently is widely regarded as the biggest culprit plaguing this offense, but sprinkling in a healthy Mitchell as a change of pace has provided a spark in each of the last two games — even in defeat. In nine games this season, Mitchell has rushed for 229 yards and a touchdown on 31 carries and has caught seven passes for 56 yards.
Cleveland suspended
Weeks after Ben Cleveland was arrested for DUI in Georgia last offseason, the Ravens re-signed the reserve guard to a one-year, $1.17 million contract despite knowing he’d potentially face a suspension from the NFL.
That ban came Monday with the league suspending Cleveland for three games without pay for violating the substance abuse policy.
Though the signing raised eyebrows at the time as the organization was already facing off-field scrutiny over the Justin Tucker scandal, the thought was Cleveland would provide affordable competition and depth behind projected starting guards Daniel Faalele and Andrew Vorhees. However, the 2021 third-round pick hasn’t challenged either starter for playing time despite their persistent struggles and has been a healthy scratch for each of the last three games with rookie Emery Jones taking his place as the top reserve guard on game days.
In 10 games this season, Cleveland has played three offensive snaps.
8Week 16 game flexed to Sunday Night Football
Despite losing back-to-back games to fall under .500 and behind the Steelers for first place in the AFC North, the Ravens will have another shot to win a prime-time home game.
The league announced Monday that the Dec. 21 tilt with New England originally scheduled for 1 p.m. has been moved to Sunday Night Football as Jackson and second-year quarterback and MVP candidate Drake Maye will square off for the first time. The Patriots are off to a very impressive and surprising 11-2 start in Mike Vrabel’s first year as head coach while Baltimore is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
Sunday’s loss to the Steelers dropped the Ravens to 3-5 at M&T Bank Stadium this season, which includes prime-time losses to Detroit and Cincinnati.
The Week 16 meeting between the Bengals and Miami was originally scheduled for Sunday night.
Ravens claim linebacker off waivers
Having lost rookie linebackers Jay Higgins and Chandler Martin to knee injuries in recent weeks, the Ravens claimed former Chicago linebacker Carl Jones off waivers on Monday.
Jones, a 2024 undrafted free agent out of UCLA, is a candidate to contribute on special teams after appearing in 10 games for the Bears over the last two seasons.
