ExtremeRavens Posted 7 hours ago Posted 7 hours ago Lamar Jackson was back at Ravens practice Wednesday in Owings Mills. He was also a limited participant and on the team’s injury report again. It was a familiar affliction: his ankle. That after hamstring, knee and toe injuries over the course of what has been an incongruent season for the quarterback and two-time NFL Most Valuable Player. Because of his latest trauma, he was not available to reporters afterward because he was getting treatment following the two-hour session after having missed a day of practice each of the past three weeks because of injuries. It’s unclear how his ankle held up during Wednesday’s practice. Jackson’s latest injury, though, comes in the wake of an ugly 32-14 Thanksgiving night debacle at home against the Cincinnati Bengals and after a mini-bye with the weekend off. “It’s always good to get a couple days rest probably for everybody,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of Jackson’s latest affliction. “So that’s a positive in that sense. It wasn’t very enjoyable for us. It would’ve been better if we would’ve won the game. “[But] it’s good to have him out there doing what he did today. It’s a plus.” Jackson’s performance of late — along with the rest of the offense — has of course been anything but. If Week 1 against the Buffalo Bills — when the Ravens scored 40 points and rolled up 432 yards — was the apogee for what was expected to be a dynamic and explosive offense, then last Thursday against Cincinnati was the nadir. Facing the NFL’s worst defense, Baltimore turned the ball over five times (three of them courtesy of Jackson), went 3-for-10 on third down, was nearly doubled up in time of possession and managed just seven points over its final 12 possessions of the cringeworthy loss. Now comes a showdown against the most bitter of rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, on Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium. Once the fiercest and perhaps best battle in the sport, its reputation has been diminished in large part because of both teams being just 6-6. First place in the AFC North is on the line — someone has to win it after all — but perhaps the most telling tidbit of how far it has fallen is that it marks the first time since 1999 that the two foes will play a game in December when neither is above .500. The Ravens will have a chance to change that and Pittsburgh, at least on paper, would seem to be a welcome tonic. On Sunday, the Steelers were gashed at home by the Buffalo Bills, who ran for 249 yards in a 26-7 victory. It was also their fifth loss in seven games and left quarterback Aaron Rodgers bloodied and battered. But much of Baltimore’s success will hinge on its quarterback, though he’s far from alone in that endeavor. “We just gotta execute our plays,” wide receiver Rashod Bateman said. “We gotta do whatever we gotta do to be successful. There’s a lot of errors that we gotta clean up.” Bateman added that the offense has also felt out of sync on the field at times. “I feel like we have been all year,” he said. “We had our good days, we had our bad days, but we know what we can do and we all know what we’re capable of so to go out there and not do what we can do doesn’t feel good.” While Jackson has rightly gotten the lion’s share of credit when the Ravens have won, he also just as accurately gets much of the blame when they don’t. That’s how it goes for any quarterback and especially Baltimore’s. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson receives a snap during practice. Baltimore is preparing for a critical AFC North clash with Pittsburgh. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) In the Bengals loss, Jackson completed just 17 of 32 pass attempts for 246 yards, was intercepted once, fumbled twice inside his own 20-yard line and was sacked three times. It was a microcosm of all of his performances of late. He hasn’t produced a touchdown in any of the past three games and has completed just 56% of his passes over the past four while also not hitting the 60% mark in any of them for the longest such streak of his career. On the ground, he is averaging just 5.8 rushing attempts and 29.3 rushing yards per game, both easily the lowest marks of his career, and hasn’t had a run for more than 20 yards all year. On Monday, Harbaugh also lamented the Ravens’ lack of a rushing attack, which included just 10 carries in the Bengals game for Derrick Henry, who was mystifyingly out-snapped by second-year fifth-round back Rasheen Ali. But Harbaugh stewed over the inefficiency of which the entire operation was carried out, whether it was not getting in the right play as much as he would have liked to see or the correct adjustments being made amid what the defense was throwing at them. But that was then. Harbaugh said on Wednesday that they can’t live in the past and that, “It’s business right now. Just trying to focus on the job at hand.” It’s a point that isn’t lost on Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who in his ninth season understands the Steelers as well as anyone in the locker room. He has also endured the rare turbulent season in Baltimore. Asked if the looming matchup feels any different, he said no but acknowledged that “when I look at it, it is a little different. I guess the AFC North is the mid conference, and that’s not normal.” That also prompted linebacker Roquan Smith to pose a question to teammates. “It would be crazy for me to say if you don’t look forward at all, but honestly, it’s more so about the moment that we have right now,” Smith said. “That was a question I posed to the guys [like], ‘What are you willing to do for the game?’ And I think that’s what it just boils down to. I think this is a perfect week for that.” In Humphrey’s mind a simple thought came to the fore. “The thing that clicked in my head that I started thinking about is talk is cheap, man,” Humphrey said, adding that he doesn’t feel they have played great, are right above good and that not all three units between offense, defense and special teams have played great in the same game. “How you play will speak way louder than your words,” Humphrey said. “If you can’t get up for this one I think that shows something about your character, I think that shows something about your will and honestly I think that shows that you’re either a Raven or you’re not a Raven. “How we come out of this game, how we prepare this week echoes not only for this game but for the rest of the season because we’re basically in playoff football right now. They say there is no must-win game; this is definitely a must-win game.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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