Ravens head coach Jesse Minter kept Lamar Jackson’s Week 7 status in the air Friday, and that uncertainty now hangs over Sunday’s matchup with the Bengals.
Minter still didn’t offer a firm answer on whether Jackson will be active against Cincinnati, but he did leave open the possibility that the quarterback could return from the ankle injury that has kept him out. The coach would not say exactly how Jackson will show up on the final injury report, though questionable appears to be the likeliest label. The next 48 hours, Minter said, will help determine whether Snoop Huntley is making his third straight start or whether Jackson is ready to go as Baltimore tries to avoid back-to-back AFC North losses.
“He was able to get in the work he needed to get in to potentially have a shot to play,” Minter said.
Jackson logged three straight days of limited practice work after missing the field entirely for the previous two weeks, a clear step forward from where things had stood recently. Minter had been calling him “day to day” for weeks, and had ruled him out on each of the last two Fridays.
This time, though, the tone was noticeably different. He said the final call will come with input from doctors and Jackson himself.
“We’ll see how it goes in the next 48 hours,” Minter said, adding as to the timetable of a final determination on his playing status could “go as long as it needs to take.”
Minter was careful not to get deep into what Jackson could or couldn’t do across the three practices he attended, but the on-field clips available to the media suggested he looked less limited on Thursday than he did on Wednesday. Minter later said Jackson put in “a pretty good amount of work” on Friday.
The Ravens also chose to make Huntley available to the media rather than Jackson, and they have continued posting practice clips of Jackson on social media. Huntley, for his part, said he’s preparing as though he may be needed again Sunday.
“You just prepare to play and when it comes down to Sunday we’ll see,” Huntley said.
There were other injury developments, too. Minter said emerging edge rusher Tavius Robinson is done for the season with a pectoral injury, and veteran safety Jaylinn Hawkins will not play Sunday because of an injury.
Baltimore will also get center Cam Jurgens back for this one after he missed two games in the concussion protocol. But the matchup doesn’t get any easier. The Bengals are coming off a bye and have reshaped their defensive front, and they’ll bring a real test.
The Ravens’ secondary was already under pressure before Hawkins was ruled out, with Baltimore again coughing up 10-point leads and owning one of the league’s worst fourth-quarter defenses. Add in Ja’Marr Chase, who has already set NFL records against the Ravens, and Minter may need to get creative with his cornerback usage if Baltimore is forced to lean on a limited backup quarterback.
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