The Baltimore Ravens went down to Brazil and beat the Dallas Cowboys in a wild game on Sunday, but that 34-31 victory came at a huge cost. The Ravens lost two centers to injury, and now they have exactly zero centers on their roster. Jovaughn Gwyn went into the game as the starting center, but he went down with an ankle injury in the second half.
With Gwyn out, Ethan Pocic stepped in, but he wasn't on the field for long. Pocic suffered a knee injury, which knocked him out of the game as well. At that point, the Ravens were out of centers, so they had to reshuffle their offensive line to make things work.
The team made the decision to have rookie Vega Ioane make the shift from right guard to center, but that move left a gaping hole at right guard that was eventually filled by Andrew Vorhees. If the Ravens knew they were going to get Gwyn or Pocic back on the field this week, then the center problem would simply fix itself, because they would roll with one of those guys on Sunday against the Titans. However, they can't do that, because both guys are expected to be out for awhile, according to coach Jesse Minter.
"I don't have the full details, but they both look like they'll be a little bit long term," Minter said Monday, via the team's website. With both players expected to be out "long term," that puts the Ravens in somewhat of a bind. After watching Ioane play a solid game against the Cowboys, it sounds like the Ravens are going to keep him at center, at least for this week's game against Tennessee.
"As we sort through making our roster better over the next couple of days, he'll prepare to play that position," Minter said. "We'll figure out the best five guys to put out there for this particular week. We may add a piece or two from losing a couple of guys." Ioane, who was the 14th overall pick in the draft this year, was an All-America offensive lineman at Penn State, but he played less than 20 snaps at center during his four-year college career.
Ioane did take a few practice snaps at center over the past few weeks, so he wasn't completely in the dark when he was for forced to play the position against Dallas. "A big mindset from college too, our O-line coach was always talking about, 'Be ready for when your number's called,'" Ioane said follwing the win, via The Athletic. "It's unfortunate how it happened, but you just got to step up and be ready for the moment." Putting Ioane at center this week is certainly a short-term solution, but that will still leave the Ravens looking for a longer-term fix to the problem.
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