Ronnie Stanley played Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, but it clearly wasn't easy for him.
Baltimore's left tackle came into the weekend dealing with an ankle issue, and the injury continued to bother him throughout the 24-21 victory at M&T Bank Stadium.
Stanley made multiple trips to the sidelines to get the ankle checked out by the medical staff – he had to leave the game on three separate occasions – but each time was able to get himself back into the lineup.
"It was tough out there fighting through it," Stanley said. "It was definitely a lot of pain, but I'm happy with the victory and I don't regret anything. I'm just trying to help my team win."
Stanley suffered the injury against the Carolina Panthers in Week 8 when a player fell into the back of his leg. He returned to finish that game, but sat out the Pittsburgh Steelers game the next week. With extra time for the ankle to heal over the bye, Stanley was able to get himself ready to play Sunday.
But the Ravens knew the ankle might give Stanley issues. He only took a handful of reps with the starters during pre-game warmups, and backup left tackle Jermaine Eluemunor spent the game on the edge of the sidelines with his helmet on in case Stanley had to limp off the field.
The most noticeable point of the game where the injury bothered Stanley came in the second quarter when he tried to chase down a pass rusher about 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage while quarterback Lamar Jackson scrambled for open space. After the play, Stanley went to the turf at midfield because he couldn't make it all the way to the sidelines.
"I definitely knew that if I could come back in, then I'm going to come back in," he said. "That was throughout the game. I needed those little spurts of rest just for that pain."
Stanley expects that he'll have to continue playing with the pain in the coming weeks. He did say that sitting out another game is a possibility the Ravens have discussed, but his hope is that he won't have to miss any more action.
"I'm probably going to have to suck up through it and just fight through it," he said.
