Ravens rookie outside linebacker Odafe Oweh said Wednesday that he wasn’t “trying to do anything dirty” on the play that knocked Denver Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater out of Sunday’s game.
Oweh rattled Bridgewater’s helmet late in the second quarter, though he appeared to lead with his shoulder on the hit that took both to the ground. Bridgewater suffered a concussion on the play, did not return for the second half of the 23-7 loss and was held out of practice Wednesday.
“We play football, so it’s a hard-hitting game,” said Oweh, who was not penalized for the hit. “But I had no ill intent with trying to knock him out of the game or trying to make sure he wasn’t playing football for the rest of the game. ... Our mentality is basically to try to be the Ravens defense, bring physicality and do everything that we’ve got to do safely, penalty-wise, and just try to play hard-hitting football.”
He added: “I wish Teddy prosperity, everything like that, so I wasn’t trying to do anything dirty.”
Broncos coach Vic Fangio said Monday that Oweh’s hit on Bridgewater and Ravens safety Chuck Clark’s second-quarter hit on Diontae Spencer, which knocked the wide receiver out of the game with a chest injury, “should have been called, obviously.”
“I sent a video in to the officiating office during the week showing similar hits that they’ve had and gotten away with, and it continued,” Fangio told Denver reporters. “So you can see sending videos in to the officiating office can be fruitless at times.”
Oweh, who opened Sunday’s win with a sack on the Broncos’ first drive, has two sacks in four games. He nearly added another in the fourth quarter, only to see backup quarterback Drew Lock escape his grasp on a scramble.
“That one’s still in my mind, man,” said Oweh, who was taken No. 31 overall. “I could’ve got that one. But that’s just growing pains. I’ve got to track him better. I was getting a little excited in getting that second sack. I didn’t really track it as well as I should have. But as the games pass along and I get more experienced and everything, I’m going to make that tackle at the end of the day.”