Ravens 'Lucky' to Have Isaiah Likely, Says Todd Monken

The Baltimore Ravens got by in their first game without All-Pro tight end Mark Andrews, with Isaiah Likely producing some good moments against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Everyone was waiting to see how the Baltimore Ravens offense would fare without Mark Andrews, and in truth, while it wasn't as explosive as we have come to see Baltimore, it did enough to scrape past the Los Angeles Chargers 20-10.

With Andrews sidelined for at least the rest of the regular season, it is now second-year tight end Isaiah Likely's turn to get increased snaps in Todd Monken's offense.

Against the Chargers, Likely had a good first half, hauling in four catches for 40 yards as his RAC ability was on show.

For Monken, while the offense wasn't at its best, he was pleased with what Likely could do at SoFi Stadium.

“We didn't score enough, we got bogged down, we moved it fine, ran the ball well, maybe not explosive in the pass game as you'd like,” Monken said. “Left some things out there, but I don't think it was a matter of not having Mark.

"Isaiah [Likely] played fine, did some good things I mean that's hard to say when someone's not out there what it would have looked like had they been out there, I don't know that I just know that we're lucky to have Isaiah and he did a good job the other night he's going to continue to grow as a player we just got to continue to figure out how we're going to use the other pieces that we do have I mean that's probably the biggest thing.”

Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely showed promise in the first game, stepping in for Mark Andrews / Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports

The Ravens had the game in hand at 13-3 midway through the fourth quarter until Los Angeles finally scored a touchdown.

But Baltimore, who has been known to give up double-digit leads this season, steadied, and Zay Flowers raced away for a 37-yard touchdown run to end the game as a contest late.

While the Ravens weren't the most explosive against the Chargers, Likely showed that he can be a viable contributor going forward in Andrews' absence.

And as Monken said, it's now about getting all the other pieces involved, and we imagine that during the bye week, the coaching staff will be working feverishly to make sure that happens.