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A part of the game usually taken for granted played an oversized role in two losses for the Baltimore Ravens this season. Bad snaps from the center to the quarterback particularly hurt the
Ravens in a 23-17 loss to the New England Patriots on Nov. 15 and a 17-3 playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills on Jan. 16. Because of that, a possible shift to center by former Handley High
School and Alabama standout Bradley Bozeman is an offseason question in Baltimore again. Bozeman has worked as the Ravens’ left guard for the past two seasons, but he served as the Crimson
Tide’s starting center in 2016 and 2017, with Alabama winning the CFP national championship in the latter season. During his season-ending press conference on Monday, Ravens general manager
Eric DeCosta was asked if Bozeman might be the answer to Baltimore’s exchange problems. “I would defer to the coaches on Bradley,” DeCosta said. “Bradley’s played center, but we’ll play who
we think should play at that position. We do have some other guys that can play the position. We had a couple of games this year where we didn’t snap the ball very well. Both of those games,
incidentally, were games with really bad weather conditions – high wind, rain, monsoon up in New England. We’ve certainly got to do a better job of getting the ball back to the quarterback.
We think we’ve got some options at the position. We’ve got some good young players. “What I like about the offensive line is we’ve got a lot of really good, nice, young players. We’re not
sure who those guys are going to be who are going to emerge and be the starters for us, but we’ve got good depth, what I would call shallow depth. We’ve got some guys that can play. A lot of
guys have played for us – a lot of young players, emerging talents. We’ll also have a chance, I think, with the draft and free agency to augment those positions as well. “Bradley’s an
important part of the mix. We’ve got some other guys that can play that position as well, so we’ll find the best five guys and the best backups behind them and we’ll start out in September.”
Against the Patriots, a bad snap with running back Mark Ingram lined up in a wildcat formation on fourth-and-1 at the Baltimore 48-yard line resulted in an 11-yard loss. The third-quarter
miscue set up New England for a field goal and a 23-10 lead. RAVENS MAKE ‘TOUGH BUSINESS DECISION’ ON MARK INGRAM The bad snap was one of three in the second half by Matt Skura that went
down as fumbles. Skura didn’t start another game at center for the rest of the season, and he isn’t under contract for the 2021 campaign. Patrick Mekari started five of last seven
regular-season games, then started both playoff games at center. Trystan Colon-Castillo saw his only NFL action to date as Baltimore’s starting center against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Dec.
2, when Mekari was on reserve/COVID-19, and against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 3, when Mekari had a back injury. One of Mekari’s unsatisfactory snaps against Buffalo sailed over
quarterback Lamar Jackson’s head on the last play of the third quarter, and he sustained a concussion retrieving the football in Baltimore’s season-ending loss. BILLS MAFIA CONTRIBUTING TO
BRADLEY BOZEMAN’S FOUNDATION Last offseason, the Ravens were wondering if Skura would be available to handle the snapping. In his third season as Baltimore’s center, Skura had sustained a
devastating knee injury in the 11th game of 2019, suffering torn anterior cruciate, medial collateral and lateral collateral ligaments and a dislocated kneecap. An undrafted rookie, Mekari
also finished 2019 in Skura’s spot, and DeCosta was the first to mention publicly that Bozeman could wind up at center in 2020 depending on Skura’s status. Bozeman instead stayed put. In his
second season at left guard, Bozeman was the only Baltimore offensive lineman to start every game in the same position in 2020. The Ravens not only were adjusting to the retirement of right
guard Marshal Yanda – an eight-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro during his 13 seasons with Baltimore – but 2019 All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley played in only six games in
2020. Orlando Brown Jr., who moved from right tackle to left tackle when Stanley got hurt, and Bozeman played 1,026 and 1,016 offensive snaps, respectively, in the 2020 regular season.
Skura ranked third in playing time among the Ravens’ offensive linemen with 661, or 64 percent of the snaps. Nine offensive linemen played at least 125 snaps for Baltimore this season, and
the Ravens used seven starting combinations on the offensive line in 2020, with two left tackles, one left guard, three centers, three right guards and three right tackles used in those
lineups over the course of 16 games. _Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at __@AMarkG1__._ MORE NFL: · Quarterback Devlin Hodges changes teams
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