Ravens' Ben Watson out for season with torn Achilles

Ravens' Ben Watson out for season with torn Achilles

By Conor Orr
Around The NFL Writer
Published: Aug. 27, 2016

The Baltimore Ravens will be without tight end Ben Watson in 2016.

The reliable veteran tore his right Achilles tendon on the first play of Saturday night's preseason game against the Detroit Lions. Bunched with a few Ravens wideouts, Watson seemed to get tripped up while running a route and immediately crumbled to the turf. The injury was clear enough that the team was able to almost instantly diagnose and confirm the tear.

The news is obviously heartbreaking for the Ravens, who made an aggressive push for Watson this offseason and stole him away from the New Orleans Saints. Fellow veteran tight end Dennis Pitta is coming off a hip injury that some guessed would end his career, and he's now nursing a broken finger. Nick Boyle is suspended and Maxx Williams has been missing practices and did not dress Saturday.

The injury obviously brings up questions about Watson's immediate future. The 35-year-old had been remarkably consistent throughout his career but has already sustained the rigors of 12 NFL seasons. Will the Ravens and Watson push for a comeback so he can finish out his contract and career in Baltimore?

Known as one of the NFL's good guys, Watson has been a Walter Payton Man of the Year Award finalist and Byron "Whizzer" White Man of the Year Award finalist over the course of his career. Watson caught 74 passes for 825 yards and six touchdowns last year in New Orleans.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000691275/article/ravens-ben-watson-out-for-season-with-torn-achilles

After Watson's injury Harbaugh apparently now wants to eliminate preseason games and go to Goodell's wet dream of more TV $$$ with an 18 game regular season.

"If you go more games, fewer preseason games and bigger rosters, that's good for everybody," Harbaugh said. "To me, that's something that they can put their heads together and work out. It would be a positive."

Asked for his thoughts on the right number of preseason games, Harbaugh said, "If I had my choice, I'd go none."

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...aring-achilles

That obviously would avoid injuries in preseason games but result in teams being even more decimated with injuries by the end of the regular season with starters playing full time in 18 rather than 16 games. Of course the preseason could be cut back to two games with no extension of the regular season but then teams could not charge full freight prices for the two preseason home games - it's all about the Benjamins