Life in the AFC North is bruising.
After back-to-back games against NFC South teams, the Ravens returned to the physical style of play inside the division. And that hard-nosed brand of football took a toll on the Ravens' roster.
The Ravens suffered a handful of injuries at several key positions during Sunday's 27-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Baltimore's top cornerback, a pair of receivers and three offensive linemen all missed part of the game.
When asked about the effect injuries had on the game, Head Coach John Harbaugh didn't use it as an excuse, and instead complimented his players for working through them.
"Our guys played hard; they played through it," he said.
The most significant injury was to cornerback Jimmy Smith,*who went down with a foot sprain on the opening drive of the game and didn't return. He initially jogged off the field, but then was *taken to the locker room on a cart.
Smith has been one of the Ravens' best players this season, and his absence left just two active cornerbacks -- Lardarius Webb and Dominique Franks. The Bengals went after Franks, who saw his most playing time since the Ravens signed him in Week 6.
Franks was matched up against wide receiver Mohamed Sanu for much of the game, and the big receiver finished with five catches for 125 yards.
Offensively, wide receivers Torrey Smith (head) and Michael Campanaro (hamstring), and offensive linemen Kelechi Osemele (eye), Marshal Yanda (knee) and Eugene Monroe (undisclosed) all came out of the game at some point. All returned, except for Campanaro.
Campanaro's injury occurred at the end of the first half, but before getting hurt, he was off to a strong start and had three catches for 40 yards.
Torrey Smith went down early in the third quarter after taking a blow to the head when he was the intended target on a pass that ended up getting intercepted. He went to the locker room to be evaluated for a concussion, but he passed the concussion protocol and returned to the game. Smith did not have a catch on the day.
The offensive line went through a series of shuffles on the day.
Monroe, who missed the last four games because of knee surgery, was also sidelined for a series and was replaced by James Hurst. Monroe said that coming out for a series was the plan going into the game, and was not the result* *of getting re-injured.
"As we got going, I felt great, so I continued it out," Monroe said.
Yanda was initially sidelined to have his knee examined, and Osemele also came to the bench to have his eye flushed out. Rookie John Urschel filled in at both guard spots when they came out of the game.
"We have guys that will step up," Monroe said. "The guys that came in, they started last week. So we have guys that have experience on the field, and they can step in all over the line."
