Ravens’ WR Rashod Bateman will miss “a few weeks” after aggravating his left foot injury in Thursday’s 27-22 win over the Buccaneers.
Bateman missed both Weeks 5 and 6 with a midfoot sprain before returning in Week 7 against the Browns. He looked good in his return, catching four of his five targets for 42 yards in Baltimore’s 23-20 win. Despite the performance, the team took the cautious approach with Bateman and held him out of practice on the Tuesday leading up to their Week 8 matchup with Tampa Bay.
He returned to practice on Wednesday and was a full participant, which was a good sign that he had progressed to a point where the foot was no longer a concern. Then came gameday, where he was used sparingly before being ruled out midway through the third quarter.
Ravens’ head coach John Harbaugh explained that Bateman had aggravated his foot injury, it was more serious than the team initially believed, and they expect him to miss some time as a result.
“There’s a little more there from a strain standpoint,” Harbaugh said Monday. “It looks like it’s going to be a few weeks for him. We’ll have more to report on that later in the week.”
The main concern now is that he suffered a Lisfranc injury. A Lisfranc injury occurs when there is damage to the Lisfranc midfoot joint complex. The complex itself is made up of ligaments that connect the metatarsal bones to the tarsal bones and hold them in place. It is instrumental in maintaining stability and transferring energy from the midfoot to the calf muscles when walking, jumping, or running.
These injuries are notoriously difficult to manage, especially for skill positions like wide receivers. Lisfranc injuries become very problematic when there are fractures or ruptures present because those often require surgery and come with a lengthy absence, often a full season.
The silver lining here is that Harbaugh said he expects Bateman to only miss a few weeks, meaning there shouldn’t be any fractures or ruptures. Regardless, the Ravens will have to express more caution moving forward.
Our algorithm gives him a High Injury Risk (24%) and a Below Average Health Performance Factor (47%).
