This is a brutal loss for the Baltimore Ravens
Sunday’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers was not all sunshine and rainbows, as any Ravens fan can attest. While the game felt like a series of one bad thing after another, the worst event would not come until after the final whistle blew. Baltimore’s starting strong safety, Tony Jefferson suffered a knee injury in the fourth quarter of play. It was apparent that the injury was bad, as Jefferson immediately held his knee, and was carted off the field. Little did the Ravens know, however, that Tony Jefferson’s season was over.
In his post-game press conference, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said, regarding Tony Jefferson, that “He’s gone. He at least has an ACL, probably more. So he’ll be out for the season, as it stands right now.”
Tony Jefferson joined the team in 2017 and is one of the key leaders on defense. He had a combined 20 tackles this season, the second-most on the team.
Jefferson came under fire after Baltimore’s loss to Cleveland last week. He played very poorly, and Ravens fans continued to criticize him for what they perceived as poor play since he signed his contract with the Ravens in 2017. Jefferson struggled in his first year with the Ravens, but in 2018 took a major leap forward. He does best in the box and had an excellent relationship with Baltimore’s former free safety, Eric Weddle. With Weddle gone, Jefferson’s struggles have resurfaced.
After Jefferson was carted into the locker room, safety Chuck Clark replaced him on the field. Baltimore drafted Chuck Clark in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Clark has moved from a special-teams only player, into a solid backup safety. He took over for Jefferson when he suffered a short-term injury last year. The circumstances in this situation are massively different for Clark, and he will need to assume the role of full-time starter moving forward.
