Ravens mascot suffers leg injury after being tackled by youth football player

Hate to see an injury like this.

You just hate seeing a big name getting hurt in preseason, but now a meaningless game has claimed another huge star. Poe, mascot for the Baltimore Ravens, suffered a suspected torn ACL when he was brutally tackled from behind by a youth football player.

A youth football game held during halftime of Ravens vs. Cardinals turned ugly over the weekend when a child tackled Poe, and pushed him to the ground with the mascot coming up holding its knee and needing to be carted off. Ever the professional, Poe never took off his raven head — playing through the pain all the way off the field.

On Sunday afternoon the Ravens offered an update, with Poe icing his knee following the injury the night prior.

The Ravens are now in a quandary, should Poe be unable to work this season. Sure, the team could just put a different person under the raven head — but they shouldn’t. This is the perfect opportunity to get a new mascot in, turning this tragedy into one year of fill-in mascot fun.

Here are a few alternate mascot ideas, keeping in mind the organization’s desire to honor the works of Edgar Allen Poe.

• Telly, the snitching heart
• Monty, the cask of amontillado
• Liggy the ghost
• Opie, the opium pipe

See, there are plenty of great options for Baltimore this season — just in case Poe isn’t ready to go.