Ravens-Redskins: Inactives and pre-game notes

LANDOVER, Md. — A rainy and gloomy day at FedEx Field is the setting Sunday afternoon as the Ravens take on the Washington Redskins for the fifth time in their regular-season history.
Hoping to rebound from a disappointing loss to Pittsburgh last week, the Ravens will try to clinch their fifth consecutive trip to the postseason, but they’ll need help to do it. Baltimore will officially punch its ticket to the playoffs with a win and a loss from either Cincinnati or Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon.
Linebacker Terrell Suggs will not play despite being listed as questionable on the final injury report of the week. The 30-year-old linebacker suffered a torn biceps last Sunday but was able to practice on a limited basis on Thursday and Friday. However, he deemed himself unready to go after testing out the right arm on Sunday morning.
As we learned on Friday, the Ravens will be without inside linebacker Dannell Ellerbe (ankle) and tight end Ed Dickson (knee), who were both ruled out after not practicing at all during the week. Both were injured in the win at San Diego two weeks ago and will miss their second consecutive game.
It will be interesting to see how defensive coordinator Dean Pees handles the linebacker position as Albert McClellan would be the logical choice to slide inside and replace Ellerbe as he did last week. However, with Suggs now out, the Ravens would like to have McClellan available to set the edge opposite rookie Courtney Upshaw because he is strong against the run. Assuming McClellan plays inside, the Ravens will rely on fourth-year linebacker Paul Kruger as an every-down player and he struggled mightily to set the edge against the running game earlier this season when Suggs was on the physically unable to perform list.
In a surprise move, the Redskins have listed return specialist Brandon Banks as inactive. He was not listed on the injury report this week, so it will be interesting to see how Washington handles its return duties.
The Ravens are wearing their white jerseys with black pants while Washington sports its burgundy jerseys and gold pants on Sunday afternoon.
Here are Sunday’s inactives …
BALTIMORE
LB Terrell Suggs
LB Dannell Ellerbe
TE Ed Dickson
CB Jimmy Smith
OL Ramon Harewood
DL Bryan Hall
WR Deonte Thompson
WASHINGTON
QB Rex Grossman
WR Brandon Banks
WR Dezmon Briscoe
LB Roddrick Muckelory
G Josh LeRibeus
G Adam Gettis
T Tom Compton
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