The Baltimore Ravens are in crisis mode. After their AFC Championship Game exit last season, everyone was looking forward to their revenge this season. Unfortunately, it's been disaster after disaster for Baltimore. Due to the ugly collapses, fumbling issues, and a leaky defense, the Ravens have started the season 1-3 for the first time in the Lamar Jackson era.
To make matters worse for the Ravens, Jackson himself was hit by the injury bug. The Ravens quarterback left their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4 due to a hamstring injury. A report from ESPN's Jeremy Fowler revealed that Jackson wants to try and play through the injury… but it's looking more and more unlikely.
“The Ravens will be cautious with Lamar Jackson, knowing it's very difficult for an explosive runner to play through a hamstring injury without proper healing,” Fowler reports. “As one team source put it, The type of player that he is and the amount of running that he does says that he will probably want to feel really good before he returns.' The sentiment I'm hearing out of Baltimore is the Ravens will see how Jackson responds during the week before making any sweeping determinations about his injury outlook. But playing this week doesn't look like the safest bet. ”
Jackson has been one of the lone bright spots for the Ravens this season. The former league MVP has a career-high 71.6% completion rate through four games and has thrown ten touchdowns to just one interception this season. He's also added 41.5 yards per game on the ground, complementing his elite passing with his mobility. However, he's already taken 15 sacks this season, compared to the 23 he had all through last season.
Without Jackson, the Ravens will turn towards veteran Cooper Rush as their quarterback. Rush replaced Jackson in the Chiefs game after the latter exited the game. He completed 9 of his 13 passes for 52 yards, as the Ravens relied on the run game more heavily with the veteran under center.
