Ravens Edge Rushers Preparing to Step Up vs. Lions

The Baltimore Ravens will face one of the best offensive units in the league to cap off Week 3 of the regular season when the Detroit Lions come to town for a non-conference matchup between two legit Super Bowl contenders. While a lot is being made in the lead-up about the battles that will take place between skill position players, games are often won and lost in the trenches.

With Pro Bowl veteran outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy reportedly expected to miss multiple weeks with a hamstring injury he suffered in Week 2, the Ravens will have to lean more on their young players at the position to rise to the occasion and carry more of the load when it comes to setting a strong edge against the run and generating a consistent pass rush.

"We have the 'Next Man Up' mentality," Odafe Oweh said. "We have a lot of good rushers on our team. Obviously, it's going to impact us without a guy like 'KV' [who's] a productive vet, but we have a lot of guys that can step up [like] David [Ojabo]. We have Mike [Green], obviously, myself – Tavius [Robinson] is coming into his own as well – so it should be good."

The Ravens' young edge defenders face one of the toughest challenges on the team. They'll go up against arguably the best offensive tackle pairing in the league: Pro Bowler Taylor Decker on the blindside and two-time First Team All Pro Penei Sewell on the right. These linemen help pave the way for the running back tandem of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. They also lead the charge to keep quarterback Jared Goff clean in the pocket.

"We're going against a great opponent," Oweh said. "[They have] two good tackles, too. We have a challenge for us. We've lost an awesome guy on our defensive line that is productive. Obviously, we're going to have to raise our level of play, so why not do it on primetime where everyone's watching."

After Van Noy left the team's win over the Cleveland Browns early with the injury that has kept him out of practice thus far this week, the edge defender who stepped up the most was Robinson. The third-year pro tied for the second-most pressures on the team with 3 and recorded 6 total tackles, including 4 solos and 1 for a loss, a quarterback hit and a strip-sack that led to a fumble recovery touchdown.