Mike Green had Joe Flacco wrapped around the ankles, poised to register the rookie's first sack in his second NFL game. Only problem was the wise veteran quarterback got rid of the ball as he fell to the turf.
Green had to wait a little longer.
"The time is going to come," Green said on "The Lounge" podcast this week. "I don't know when, but it's going to come."
The time could come this week if Kyle Van Noy is sidelined by his hamstring injury. Green could get plenty of opportunities on "Monday Night Football" against the Detroit Lions.
810: Mike Green Joins The Lounge
Team insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing sit down with rookie OLB Mike Green to talk about his mindset going into a big game vs. the Lions, how he's grown as a rookie, meeting Ray Lewis, the emotions of draft night, and much more.
The second-round pick is part of a cluster of young outside linebackers the Ravens would lean more heavily on without Van Noy, who led the team with 12.5 sacks last season. Odafe Oweh is looking for his first sack of the season, Tavius Robinson is a major part of the mix, and David Ojabo could be active for his first game of the year.
But Green was the first answer after Van Noy went down against the Browns, as he played 62% of the defensive snaps. Green entered the year with a big goal – to be named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. He has enough talent. Now he may get enough reps to show what he can do.
Green elevated his game with each step this offseason – when the pads came on and when the preseason started. There is no bigger regular-season stage than "Monday Night Football."
"When you're the next guy up, you're expected to be ready," Green said. "I think I've just been prepared to be ready when my name was going to be called. And I think this week is a good opportunity for me to go out there and showcase my talent."
Lions quarterback Jared Goff is coming off a 52-point rout of the Chicago Bears in which he threw five touchdowns. He also wasn't sacked once. The week prior, the Green Bay Packers sacked him four times and Goff threw as many touchdowns (one) as interceptions.
Getting pressure on the Lions' veteran quarterback, who is more of a classic pocket passer, is paramount for Baltimore's defense on Monday night. When the Ravens beat the Lions, 38-6, two years ago, they sacked Goff five times, including a pair from Van Noy.
Green feels the learning curve has been steep since coming to the NFL from Marshall, where he led college football with 17 sacks last season. In the NFL, everyone is huge and talented, Green said. He'll certainly face that against Lions right tackle Penei Sewell, who has gone to the Pro Bowl the past three years.
The Ravens are going to need a strong performance from the entire defensive front. Defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike leads the team in the early running with two sacks. Robinson is the only other Raven with a sack so far, as he forced a game-sealing fumble when he took Flacco down in the fourth quarter.
"We'll all have to step up," Robinson said. "Van Noy, he's still going to be in the film room with us. He always does a great job of giving us tells and stuff like that. So, we'll still have his knowledge out there on the field with us."
Oweh had a sack in the Ravens' 2023 game against the Lions and will be going against Lions left tackle Taylor Decker.
"We have a lot of good rushers on our team," Oweh said. "Obviously, it's going to impact us without a guy like 'KV', a productive vet, but we have a lot of guys that can step up [like] David. We have Mike, obviously myself, Tavius is coming into his own as well. So it should be good."
Ojabo has been pining for chances to play. The talented former second-round pick, just like Green, had two sacks in 13 games last season but has been buried behind the Ravens' other outside linebackers on the depth chart so far this year.
"It's showtime," Ojabo said. "You've got to stay ready like you're active every week. This is a week-to-week sport, you never know. It's my time, my chance."
