OWINGS MILLS, MD. — Ravens head coach John Harbaugh was noncommittal about the availability of tight end Mark Andrews and cornerback Marlon Humphrey for the AFC championship game, saying he will have a better sense later in the week about the status of each.
The Ravens, the No. 1 seed in the AFC, host the third-seeded Kansas City Chiefs at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday, Jan. 28, with a trip to Super Bowl LVIII on the line.
This marks the Ravens’ first trip to the AFC title game since their Super Bowl season of 2012, and the first time they have hosted the title game. It is the first conference championship game in Baltimore since the 1970 season, when the Colts beat the Oakland Raiders to advance to the Super Bowl.
The return of Andrews and Humphrey would bolster a team that has been on a roll even while the two former Pro Bowl players have been absent. Andrews has missed the past seven games after suffering a severe ankle injury against Cincinnati in mid-November. Humphrey missed seven games this season, including the past two with a calf injury.
Andrews, who remains on injured reserve, has been practicing for the past two weeks and moving well in sessions open to the media. He was listed as a full participant on the official injury report late last week, fueling speculation that he would return to action in the divisional round game against Houston, but the Ravens opted against activating him.
Asked about Andrews’ status for this week, Harbaugh said, “We’ll just see how it goes. … He practiced last week, and I’m sure he’ll practice again this week. If he’s ready to play, he’ll play.”
Andrews, who has been Lamar Jackson’s favorite target since the duo arrived as rookies together in 2018, finished the season with 45 catches for 544 yards and a team-best six touchdown catches in 10 games.
Andrews’ absence has been mitigated somewhat by the emergence of second-year tight end Isaiah Likely. In the final six regular-season games without Andrews in the lineup, Likely totaled 21 catches for 322 yards, and he has scored six touchdowns in the past six games, including one in the Ravens’ 34-10 divisional round win against Houston.
Humphrey did not practice last week but was working on a side field with trainers during some portions of practice. He missed the first four games of the season recovering from a summertime procedure on his foot, then missed two midseason games and missed the past two games with a calf injury sustained against Miami in Week 17.
Humphrey finished the season with 26 tackles, one interception and five pass breakups, all the lowest totals of his seven-year career. He played in a career-low 10 games.
“I promise you, if Marlon can go, he will,” Harbaugh said. “If he can practice, he will. I think you will see that as the week goes on. Based on how much he practices, you’ll probably get a good feel for it. … We’ll have to see what happens.”
In Humphrey’s absence, Ronald Darby has stepped up in a starting role, and Harbaugh said Darby “has played outstanding.” Harbaugh also praised the play of Arthur Maulet, who like Darby was one of the summer roster additions by general manager Eric DeCosta that has paid big dividends.
Darby totaled 25 tackles and seven passes defensed this season, and then had three tackles and two pass breakups in the win against Houston.
Humphrey’s return would bolster a secondary that figures to be stressed by Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who is 3-1 against the Ravens in his career with 12 touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 119.1. In each of the past three games against the Ravens, Mahomes has thrown for at least 340 yards and had a passer rating of better than 130.
Mahomes has reached the AFC championship game all six seasons as the Chiefs’ starter.
“He’s unique,” Harbaugh said. “[He] plays his own brand of football. Been very successful. We’ll just have to study him and do our best to try to keep him under wraps.”
Harbaugh said Mahomes has “just great pocket presence. He sees the field, and he feels the pocket. He must have antenna that he just senses all that, like your car has all those sensors that start beeping when guys get too close. It must be that way for him. … It’s one of his gifts, so we’re going to have to really study it [and] be good at defending it.”
NOTEBOOK
HARBAUGH SAYS CHIEFS’ SPAGNUOLO DESERVES COACHING CHANCE: Harbaugh worked in Philadelphia for eight seasons with current Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, then later hired him in Baltimore, where he spent two seasons (2013-14). And Harbaugh said he’s surprised Spagnuolo’s name doesn’t surface more in the coaching cycle this time of year.
The Chiefs’ defense ranks No. 2 overall this season, and Harbaugh said, “They play really hard. It’s a challenge to gameplan against. Honestly, I don’t understand why I don’t see Steve’s name for head coach [opportunities]. I’m scratching my head on that one. He’s very deserving of an opportunity.”
Spagnuolo, 64, was a head coach previously, with the St. Louis Rams from 2009-2011. His teams went 10-38, and he later went 1-3 as an interim coach of the New York Giants in 2017.
NATIONAL MEDIA DESCENDING ON BALTIMORE: Ravens staffers were busy altering the media room at the team facility on Monday, adding extra work spaces for the expected onslaught of national media arriving in advance of the AFC championship game.
The Ravens have changed the media schedule somewhat as well. Harbaugh usually speaks after practice on Wednesdays, but this week, he and selected players will speak at noon in the team auditorium in a news conference that will air live nationally. Quarterback Lamar Jackson will speak on Wednesday, as usual, but will also be at the podium on Friday this week.
HARBAUGH RECALLS 1971 WITH A LAUGH: Harbaugh was asked about 1971, since that’s the last time Baltimore hosted the AFC title game. The Colts beat the Oakland Raiders, 27-17, on Jan. 3, 1971 to reach Super Bowl V.
Harbaugh said his family was living in Iowa, where his father, Jack, had taken a job as a defensive backs coach at the University of Iowa.
“We didn’t have a car half the time,” recalled Harbaugh, who turned 9 that year. “Sometimes we had a car, sometimes we didn’t. So when we had a car, we got a ride to school. [When] we didn’t have a car, we were walking. That’s when Dad would say, ‘Who’s got it better than us?’ And we’d say, ‘Everybody with a car.'”
Photo Credits: Kenya Allen/PressBox