Ravens’ Harbaugh calls Mark Andrews a ‘star’ despite slow start and expects ‘big games’ | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

Fear not, fantasy football players.

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh believes tight end Mark Andrews will emerge from his early-season slump.

“Mark Andrews is definitely going to have big games here when he catches the ball,” Harbaugh said Monday, according to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “We’re going to have a big passing game here soon. It’s hard to predict when that will be because the games go where they go and the ball goes where it goes and it’s just a competition.”

“…I could probably try to talk to Mark to make sure everything was okay, but he would just look at me like, ‘What are you talking to me about? Everything is fine, everything is good.’ Mark Andrews is a great player… I mean, there’s no doubt that we’ve done well offensively and as a team, and that part hasn’t been noticeable over the last two weeks. I’m kind of excited because that is another weapon we have that will happen.”

While fantasy football players may not want to hear it, Andrews’ impressive blocks, which Harbaugh also called “phenomenal,” are crucial to the team’s chances of winning.

And they were on full display in Sunday’s confident 35:10 victory over the Buffalo Bills. Baltimore ran for 271 yards and two touchdowns, with Derrick Henry doing most of the heavy lifting with 199 yards and both scores.

But Andrews failed to record a reception for the second straight game and has just six catches for 65 yards and zero touchdowns this season.

The performance is a far cry from when he made three Pro Bowls in four years from 2019 to 2022. He had 107 catches for 1,361 yards and nine touchdowns in 2021 after finishing the 2019 season with a career-best ten touchdown grabs.

However, due to an ankle injury, Andrews was only able to play in 10 games last year before returning after the AFC Championship Game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The 29-year-old hasn’t returned to the dominant stat he was before the injury, but Baltimore is a team that can rely on the running game with Henry and Lamar Jackson. There’s also tight end Isaiah Likely, who leads the Ravens with 167 receiving yards this season.

Andrews’ track record suggests the numbers will come eventually, and Harbaugh believes they will. He may also have more room to maneuver as the season progresses and opposing defenses put more people in the penalty area to stop the run.

For now, however, he is helping the team with his blocking attacks.