BALTIMORE – The Baltimore Ravens have a quick turnaround.
They had very little time to celebrate Sunday’s 23-20 win over the Cleveland Browns.
Instead, they immediately have to turn their attention to Thursday’s game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Generally, players and coaches don’t like playing games just four days apart.
However, primetime games generate revenue.
So, players and coaches know not to criticize the Thursday night schedule too loudly.
While at times, they note that not only are the games difficult, but they can be dangerous in terms of injury susceptibility.
But the show must go on.
The Ravens will play in Tampa Thursday night at Raymond James Stadium.
“The two main challenges are – No. 1, is the physical aspect of it. These guys are going to be out there playing on four days. You watch the Thursday night games and you see the effects of that,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “Then, in terms of the gameplan stuff, just trying to put a gameplan together that addresses the issues that you’re facing, like for instance, the Buccaneers’ blitz package. [To] do it in a way that you can actually get it down quickly and execute it on Thursday night in real time. So, those two things are the main issues.”
Instead of typically having Monday and Tuesday off, the Ravens returned to work those two days. They have a team walkthrough before flying to Florida on Wednesday.
“Just being prepared for the next team,” Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson said. “[It’s] a quick turnaround. it’s only probably like two or three days before you’re traveling and doing all the necessary stuff to get to your opponent. So, that’s about it, but it’s football. We’ve just got to get prepared.”
Ravens defensive lineman Odafe Oweh said the key for preparing for a short week is to take care of yourself physically and mentally.
Mark Andrews (knee), Rashod Bateman (foot), Josh Bynes (quad), Calais Campbell (illness) and Ronnie Stanley (ankle) sat out of practice for the second day in a row on Tuesday.
“Just making sure that your body is right, your mental is right moving onto the next game, not focusing on the good’s or the bad’s from the past game,” Oweh said. “Then, like I said, a big part of it is getting your body right.”