OWINGS MILLS, Md. — With one of the NFL’s best offenses coming to town for Monday Night Football, the Ravens are preparing to be without their leader in sacks from last season.
Though head coach John Harbaugh had little to disclose on Monday about Pro Bowl outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy’s hamstring injury beyond it being “nothing season-ending or long, long term” in nature, the 34-year-old appears likely to miss at least the Week 3 prime-time clash with Detroit. Van Noy exited early in the second quarter of the 41-17 win over Cleveland and was ruled out for the remainder of the game coming out of halftime.
He led Baltimore with a career-high 12 1/2 sacks last season, and his presence will be missed as the Ravens face Pro Bowl offensive tackles Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell and a Lions offense that produced 52 points in a blowout win over Chicago in Week 2.
“We’ll all have to step up,” said third-year edge defender Tavius Robinson, who registered the strip-sack resulting in Roquan Smith’s fumble return for a touchdown against the Browns. “Put in a little bit of extra work because Van Noy’s still going to be in the film room with us. He always does a great job of giving us tells and stuff like that, so we’ll still have his knowledge out there on the field with us.”
The young outside linebacker group will still be led by Odafe Oweh, who registered a career-high 10 sacks last season and has been credited by Pro Football Focus with five pressures through the first two games. And though the Ravens defense rebounded from its poor season-opening performance in Buffalo by creating plenty of pressure against a below-average Browns offensive line, the Lions present a much greater challenge through the air and on the ground.
Van Noy’s absence will undoubtedly shine a brighter spotlight on 2025 second-round pick Mike Green, who has recorded a quarterback hit and three tackles through his first two NFL games. Harbaugh complimented the rookie for being “very physical” and improving his pass-rush angles from the season-opening loss when the Ravens collectively did a poor job keeping Bills quarterback Josh Allen in the pocket.
The pass rush will need more from Green with Van Noy sidelined for the time being, especially after general manager Eric DeCosta didn’t add a veteran outside linebacker to the mix in the offseason.
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“Like rookies, there’s a ways to go, but he’ll keep making the same kind of progress every single week,” Harbaugh said. “I’m happy with the way Mike’s playing. He is playing good football for us and just has to keep growing as a young player.”
Van Noy’s absence also means former second-round pick David Ojabo will likely be active for the first time this season after being a healthy scratch for the first two games. At the very least, the next couple weeks could prove informative in determining just how big a priority it will be for DeCosta to add an edge rusher before the Nov. 4 trade deadline.
The Week 3 status of four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey is unclear, but his efforts to move around and get loose on the sideline in the fourth quarter of the Browns game were interpreted as a good sign that his groin injury was minor. The first open practice and injury report of the week will be on Thursday.
The Ravens have a chance to welcome back standout tight end Isaiah Likely (foot) for Week 3 after he returned to practice late last week, but five-time Pro Bowl fullback Patrick Ricard remains sidelined indefinitely with a calf injury suffered in mid-August. Harbaugh initially indicated Ricard would be ready to return in time for the season opener, but that obviously didn’t happen.
“It hasn’t been as quick as we thought. It just hasn’t been; there’s no way around it,” said Harbaugh about Ricard’s recovery. “I’m disappointed, but Pat is more disappointed than anybody that it hasn’t gotten there faster than what was expected when he first did it. Yeah, it’s been slower than we hoped — that’s for sure. We’re kind of in that probably week-to-week mode with Pat right now.”
Though the Ravens showed no signs of missing Ricard in their 238-yard rushing performance against the Bills in Week 1, their 45 rushing yards against a tough Browns defense marked their lowest total in a game started by two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson.
On Tuesday, Carolina signed former seventh-round center Nick Samac off Baltimore’s practice squad. The Ravens signed edge rusher Malik Hamm to fill Samac’s spot, but they also worked out interior offensive linemen Sam Mustipher and Lecitus Smith on Wednesday. An Owings Mills native, the 29-year-old Mustipher appeared in nine games and made two starts for Baltimore in 2023.
