Hurricane Milton did major damage to parts of Florida's Gulf Coast, but the Ravens do not expect the aftermath to impact their Monday night (Oct. 21) game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"As far as we know ... we'll be [in Tampa] as scheduled," Head Coach John Harbaugh said.
The Buccaneers left Tampa on Oct. 8 and practiced at Tulane University in New Orleans ahead of their 51-27 victory over the Saints in Week 6. The Buccaneers returned home as scheduled following the game Sunday. Head Coach Todd Bowles awarded one of the game balls to the City of Tampa.
"Our hearts pour out to the city," Bowles said via Jenna Laine of ESPN. "It's a tough city. It's a strong city. We don't really know what we're coming back to, but in our small part, this time we wanted to win one for the city and we're going to try to help in any way we can when we get back."
John Harbaugh Saw Ben Cleveland's Potential to Block Kicks
In only his second game playing special teams, offensive lineman Ben Cleveland made an impact.
Cleveland blocked a 52-yard field goal attempt just before halftime during Baltimore's 30-23 victory over the Washington Commanders.
This is Cleveland's fourth season with the Ravens, but he had never played on special teams prior to the past two weeks. Why the change? Harbaugh said he had been putting a bug in Special Teams Coordinator Chris Horton's ear.
"I'm going to take some credit for Chris, I've been suggesting that for a while, just to be honest with you," Harbaugh said with a laugh. "He's a big man (6-foot-6, 360 pounds). He came to Chris and said, 'Hey, I want to do it.'
"When a guy wants to do something like that and double-down on what he's doing, help the team, man you're fired up about that. He got a game ball. That was big. You never know what plays are going to make the difference. That was awesome to see."
The Ravens were protecting a 17-10 lead at the time of Cleveland's block, and it kept the Commanders from going into the locker room with momentum. Cleveland celebrated in style after the block, and he continued that in the postgame locker room.
"I just appreciate the opportunity to be here with you all and grind with you all every day," Cleveland said as he held up his game ball. "I love each and every one of you."
Teammates were happy to see Cleveland get a chance to shine.
"I mean, isn't that special?" center Tyler Linderbaum said. "I mean, that's awesome – just finding a role. Ben Cleveland is the biggest human being I've ever seen. I'm proud of him."
Arthur Maulet Could Return in Week 7
Nickel cornerback Arthur Maulet, who has not played this season, is moving closer to returning. He was placed on injured reserve (knee) before Week 1, then he tweaked his hamstring after returning to practice on Oct. 2, and has not practiced since.
The 21-day window for Maulet to return to the 53-man roster ends on Oct. 23. Harbaugh said Maulet could practice this week and potentially return for Baltimore's Week 7 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on "Monday Night Football."
"Very hopeful that he'll be back this week," Harbaugh said. "I think there's a good chance he will be. We'll see on Thursday, Friday. But I think there's a really good chance he'll be practicing this week, then we'll have to see from practice if he can play or not."
Ar'Darius Washington Plays More High Safety
Cornerbacks Brandon Stephens and Marlon Humphrey and safeties Kyle Hamilton and Marcus Williams rarely come off the field for Baltimore. However, Ar'Darius Washington could see more action as the No. 3 safety instead of slot corner.
Nate Wiggins played 73% of the defensive snaps against the Commanders, followed by Eddie Jackson (40%) and Washington (24%). Harbaugh feels secondary depth is one of the team's strengths.
"We've got a lot of good players back there," Harbaugh said. "I told the guys, last week we were the 29th ranked pass defense by statistics in the league. Are we going to play 29th the rest of the year? We're much more talented than that and we can play so much better.
"Ar'Darius, every time he goes out there, he plays well. You just want to find spots for guys to play. If you have good players, you want to get them out there. It does take away from other guys, but that's just the nature of it. We want to give everybody an opportunity to go out there and do what they do well."
Dynamic Kickoff Not Having Impact Many Anticipated
The Ravens' kick returners had their busiest game of the season against the Commanders. Justice Hill returned two kicks for a 28.5-yard average, while Deonte Harty averaged 23.5 yards on his two returns.
However, the Ravens had only returned six kicks in their previous five games, and Harbaugh is one of many who have mixed feelings about the new dynamic kickoff.
"It's nice to get some reps finally," Harbaugh said. "The disappointing thing about the play … is that the whole idea was to get more kickoff returns. It's really not happening and there's reasons for that."
Right now, touchbacks on kickoffs go to the 30-yard line, but there have been conversations about pushing it to the 35- or 40-yard line to further prevent touchbacks. Harbaugh said that's something he would support.
As the Ravens and the rest of the NFL try to navigate the new kickoff, Harbaugh expected Baltimore's special teams play to trend upward as the season progresses.
"I think we can be better," Harbaugh said. "We can cover better, we can return better. We just have to keep working.
"I appreciate the guys, because we've got five, six or seven guys on our kickoff team at any one time who are rookies. That's a high number. We're a very young team with our backup group. Those guys are learning and they've done a great job with punt and punt return. As those guys keep getting better, our kick and kickoff return will keep getting better."
