Ravens will be short at RB when they face Steelers on Thanksgiving night

The Pittsburgh Steelers already knew they were facing a Baltimore Ravens team reeling with three losses in the past four games and on the brink of elimination from the AFC North title chase.

On Monday, the Steelers learned the Ravens will be short-handed at one of their most dominant positions when the division foes meet Thursday night at Heinz Field.

Running backs Mark Ingram and rookie J.K. Dobbins will miss the game after testing positive for coronavirus and being placed on the reserve/covid-19 list. Nose tackle Brandon Williams also must sit out the game after he was placed on the list as a result of contact tracing performed by the Ravens in the wake of the positive tests.

Coach John Harbaugh shrugged off a question about his frustration because of more positive covid-19 tests in his organization. Two other Ravens players tested positive in the past two weeks.

“I don’t really have a frustration meter. That’s not really the way we think,” Harbaugh said in a Zoom call with Ravens reporters. “Can’t afford to think that way in football. I don’t think it’s real productive in life. Just meet as we find it and deal with it.”

The Ravens lead the NFL in rushing with 160.5 yards per game. They accumulated 265 yards on the ground against the Steelers in the Nov. 1 matchup at M&T Bank Stadium, yet lost 28-24.

Dobbins rushed for a game-high 113 yards against the Steelers. A second-round pick from Ohio State, he is the Ravens’ second-leading rusher with 380 yards. Quarterback Lamar Jackson leads Baltimore with 575 yards rushing.

Ingram is fourth on the team with 232 yards rushing and sat out the first meeting against the Steelers with an ankle injury. In 2019, his first year with the Ravens, he rushed for 1,018 yards and made the Pro Bowl for the third time in his 10-year career.

With Dobbins and Ingram out, the Ravens will turn to Gus Edwards as the starter. Edwards had 87 yards rushing and a touchdown on 16 carries Nov. 1, and he gouged the Steelers for 130 yards rushing in the 2019 season finale. Justice Hill, a second-year runner, will be the backup.

After closing their team facility for a few hours Monday, the Ravens reopened it after contact tracing was completed, and NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an email to the Tribune-Review that, “There’s no change to the status of the game.”

For Harbaugh, it was business as usual.

“We’re just carrying forward with our normal schedule at this point, working hard and getting ready for a big challenge Thursday night against the undefeated Steelers,” he said.

When the teams met Nov. 1, the Steelers were 6-0 and the Ravens 5-1. Since then, the Steelers have continued to win and are the NFL’s only unbeaten team. The Ravens, meanwhile, are 6-4, and a loss to the Steelers would end their two-year run as division champs.

“We want to be the team that everybody in our division points at and circles on their calendar,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “We understand that there are issues associated with being that group. We don’t run away from it. We want to run to it. … If it is in the AFC North and it’s hot, we want the Pittsburgh Steelers to be part of the discussion.”

When the Ravens announced “multiple members” of the organization had tested positive for covid-19 after their game Sunday against Tennessee, it raised concern about whether the Thanksgiving prime-time matchup would take place as scheduled or be moved to the weekend.

The NFL has not changed the date of a scheduled game because of covid-19 since Oct. 11, when several games were postponed or had times changed in the wake of a coronavirus outbreak involving the Tennessee Titans.

The Steelers were the first NFL team affected by the outbreak when their game in Week 4 at Tennessee was pushed back three weeks.

The prime time slot is considered the marquee matchup on Thanksgiving and is expected to provide a ratings boost for NBC.

The Steelers-Ravens game is the only one of the three Thursday games involving teams with winning records.

The Steelers will be playing on Thanksgiving for the third time in Tomlin’s 14 seasons and for the first time since 2016.

“That’s not something we take for granted,” Tomlin said. “As a young guy, I grew up watching football on the holidays. It’s humbling to provide it for others and to be associated with that and the memories it creates.”