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- Mar 20, 2019
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The Ravens didn’t play a game last weekend and many of their key players also sat out Week 17 because the team had already sewed up that bye through the first round.
Different people have different feelings about resting players in such situations. Some feel that the benefits of time off are outweighed by the rust that can accumulate while being off the field and Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said on Tuesday that it “can be a plus” to just keep playing every week.
Harbaugh obviously didn’t think it would be enough of a plus to keep his players on the field in Week 17, however, and Ravens players don’t think it will be an issue. Quarterback Lamar Jackson said he and the team are good while safety Earl Thomas stressed the value of this week’s practices.
“That’s what practice is for,” Thomas said, via the team’s website. “You get the rust off at practice, get your eyes right, your technique, your alignment and all that stuff right. Then the game is muscle memory.”
One thing that definitely won’t be as big an issue for the Ravens this year as it was last year is playoff inexperience. Right tackle Orlando Brown Jr. said he felt “a little bit overwhelmed” before the team’s loss to the Chargers this year, but he, Jackson and other second-year players now have a full sense of what to expect from playoff football.