Ravens tight end Mark Andrews has a plan for getting over last season’s divisional-round loss to the Buffalo Bills, if he hasn’t gotten over it already.
The plan is to do what he’s always done.
“I’m a pro,” Andrews, who fumbled in the fourth quarter and dropped a pass on a would-be game-tying 2-point conversion in the 27-25 loss in January, said Wednesday. “This is what I do. This is what I love to do. This is my whole entire world. So for me it’s about focusing and doing my job and just knowing the type of player that I can be in this offense and for this organization, for this city, and I’ve never lost sight of that.”
Andrews said he’s rewatched the playoff game ahead of the Ravens’ return trip Sunday to Highmark Stadium, a matchup of teams with Super Bowl dreams. But he was more interested in looking forward than looking back. In a late-January Instagram post addressing his playoff performance, Andrews said he was “absolutely gutted by what happened.” He joked with reporters in July that he’s had “to eat a lot of shit” for the game.
“At the end of the day, this is a new season,” Andrews said. “I’ve had a full training camp of getting better. This is a new team. For me, just looking at it, it’s two really good teams going against each other. I’m going to play my part and I’m going to do my job to the best of my ability, which I’m excited about. It’s an incredible opportunity for this organization, for me, this team and everything we want to do this year to start it off right. So I’m excited about that.”
The Ravens will need Andrews at his best Sunday against the Bills. Fellow tight end Isaiah Likely, who led the Ravens with four catches for 73 yards and a touchdown in the playoff loss, missed practice Wednesday with a foot injury and is not expected to be available for the season opener.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson, one of Andrews’ biggest supporters during an offseason when trade rumors swirled around the 29-year-old, said he expects the “same Mark that we always get — a guy who loves football, a guy who’s eager to win, who wants to win."
“I think he’ll handle it great,” coach John Harbaugh said. “I mean, Mark’s a pro. He’s been doing this a long time. He’s been in a lot of tough stadiums, a lot of tough environments to play football and he’s a great football player. Works really hard. Very prepared for the game, just like all the guys. I think it’s true — it’s more about everybody than it is about one person."
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