As the Baltimore Ravens prepare for a Divisional Round showdown against the Buffalo Bills, the pride of Charm City are going to need all hands on deck to leave Upstate New York with the win. But could the Ravens actually get some much-needed reinforcements in that pursuit in the form of wide receiver/kick returner Deonte Harty, who has been out of action since October?
Discussing the possibility of Harty coming off of IR to face off against his former team in Week 20, John Harbaugh noted that he wasn’t really sure, as the 27-year-old has returned to practice, but he isn’t sure if that means he’ll be on the field against the Bills.
“I’m not sure yet. [Deonte Harty] had been gone for quite a while, and he had the physical situation, had some personal things he was dealing with, but he was working hard in practice last week. We just need to make sure a guy is ready, in shape and mentally ready. He tells me… In his mind, he’s ready; I can tell you that. He wants to play, and we’ll just have to see, but Steven [Sims] is a guy that we also have confidence in,” Harbaugh told reporters.
“I know he had a couple balls go on the ground last week. It was windy. [The Steelers’ punter] was a lefty. He was bombing the ball, for sure. On the very first one, I don’t know if he lost track of where he was at, but we don’t want to be backing up inside the 8-yard line and catching those kinds of punts. Just let that … Give it a chance to get in the end zone, so he’d like to have that one back. Then, he decided to not field two other ones, and it turned out OK for us the way they bounced, but he’s done well. He’s an experienced guy, and he’ll do well back there, too. So, we’re confident, or if Tylan [Wallace] was back there, we’ll be confident with Tylan, too. Those guys all do a good job.”
While Harty has been out, the Ravens have earned some quality production from their other return men, with Tylan Wallace averaging 11.2 yards per punt return on six, Steven Simons averaging 4.6 on five, and Desmond King leading the clubhouse with a 12.7 yard per return average on just three attempts. Still, if Harty can go, it wouldn’t be the worst idea to give him a shot, as he was signed to play this role for the Ravens and did it effectively earlier this year before a knee injury took him out of action. Considering he has experience in Matthew Smiley’s special teams unit, who knows, maybe Harty could have some insight into ripping off a big return against the Bills in the Divisional Round.
