Lamar Jackson isn’t ready to let the Ravens drift into the abyss.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Baltimore quarterback told teammates he plans to return this season and wants to help spark a late push for the postseason. That message comes at a time when the Ravens are stumbling through an ugly four-game losing streak, with the offense averaging just under 11 points per game and the defense giving up nearly 30.
Jackson’s latest setback came in his first game back after missing three contests with a high ankle sprain. On the first play from scrimmage in a Week 8 loss to the Buffalo Bills, he injured his right thumb. Per Rapoport’s source, the three-time First Team All Pro selection had surgery to repair a fracture and dislocation in his throwing hand.
Baltimore responded by placing Jackson on injured reserve, and Tyler Huntley joined him there after suffering a season-ending turf toe injury in the same game and half against Buffalo. The usual recovery window for Jackson’s injury is at least six weeks, though it can stretch to nine.
The message Jackson passed along to the team, as paraphrased to Rapoport, was simple: “Just stay alive.”
That’s the assignment now for a Ravens team sitting at 4-5 after opening the year with four wins in its first five games. They’re outside the current playoff picture and at the bottom of the AFC North, with eight games and a bye week left to try to claw back into the race.
If Jackson is going to make a comeback this season, the earliest he can do it is Week 14 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coming out of the team’s Week 13 bye. That would be five weeks after surgery and the earliest possible point on the timeline.
The path to get there looks more manageable than what Baltimore has just endured. Their next four opponents all have records under .500, a softer stretch than the four winning teams they’ve just faced. The Ravens also made a move at quarterback, trading for veteran journeyman Jacoby Brissett to steady the offense and ease some of the burden on a defense that has been getting hit hard.
If Baltimore can put together four straight wins, or even split the next four games 2-2, Jackson’s return would suddenly have some real teeth. That would set up the final four games of the season, all against AFC North opponents, including two meetings with the current division-leading Pittsburgh Steelers.
The first hurdle is the winless Los Angeles Chargers, who are coming off their eighth straight loss to start the season, a 44-22 defeat to the Houston Texans in Week 9. Their own quarterback situation is a mess, too. In his second game back from a bye, Justin Herbert was sacked a career-high eight times, added to his league-leading interception total and might have suffered a fractured finger on his left non-throwing hand.
So Monday Night Football will feature two battered teams trying to find some life. For Baltimore, it’s a chance to clean up both sides of the ball and finally stop the slide.
Brissett has already shown he can handle this opponent. He helped lead the Arizona Cardinals to an upset over the Chargers in Week 1 and now gets another shot after Los Angeles just watched C.J. Stroud throw for nearly 400 yards and five touchdowns against them.
Defensively, the Ravens have a real opening here, too. This is the kind of game where the pass rush needs to show up, the secondary needs to take the ball away and the front seven needs to control the line of scrimmage.
If Baltimore wants any chance of still being in the mix when Jackson is eligible to return, losing to the league’s only winless team is not an option. And if the Chargers decide to sit Herbert to protect him from further damage, this could even turn into a backup-quarterback battle in primetime.
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