The Baltimore Ravens signed journeyman quarterback Ryan Mallett less than two weeks ago and according to a report by Ian Rapoport, he will start Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium.
The decision to start Mallett isn’t overly surprising as the Ravens likely want to see what he can do in their offense during the final two weeks of the season in order to see if he can be the No. 2 in 2016 behind starter Joe Flacco.
The Ravens started Jimmy Clausen in their last two games and while he was able to move the football some in both of those contests, the offense only managed 20 points combined. Clausen has combined to go 49-of-85 passing for 555 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions in those games against the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs.
Earlier in the week, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin made it known that his team would have to prepare for Mallett in addition to Clausen.
“I’m pretty familiar with some of the skill set things he’s capable of and vertical passing is one of them,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “So you got to run your antennas up there.”
Mallett started the 2015 season with the Houston Texans as the backup to Brian Hoyer , before replacing him in the team’s Week 1 loss to the Chiefs. He started the next four games but wound up getting benched and ultimately released. in the 5 games that he played in this season, Mallett has completed 78 of the 147 passes that he attempted for 770 yards with 3 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.
