Lamar Jackson hurt his hamstring last week, and as the game against the Houston Texans gets closer, he has not been ruled out of playing yet. Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans told the media that they are preparing for all options as a defense. However, there is a clear difference between Lamar Jackson and Cooper Rush regarding what opposing defenses need to prepare for.
It is worth noting that while Lamar Jackson has not practiced all week, the Ravens are keeping as quiet as possible about his status for Sunday's game. DeMeco Ryans made it clear to the media on Wednesday at his press conference that the Texans were preparing as if Jackson was playing. He also said that even if Cooper Rush is the starter, it won't matter as long as they are ready.
He said, “It doesn’t matter to us… We still have to be on our details.”
This statement has had many people in the media and fans scratching their heads because they think he was saying Rush and Jackson were basically the same, and that the Texans need to be ready regardless.
However, that's not what Ryans meant. It might be semantics and an issue of people parsing his words. Still, his overall point is that, regardless of who the Ravens have starting under center, the Texans need to be prepared, especially after the way the Texans have started the season.
Lamar Jackson is clearly the better player than Cooper Rush. That is not a debate. Jackson is a two-time NFL MVP, winning his last one in 2023.
This season, Jackson has thrown for 826 yards and 10 touchdowns to only one interception with a 71.6% completion percentage. The issue with the Ravens has been their defense because Jackson has started the season red-hot, and if they started winning, he would be in the running for the MVP once again.
The most recent update for Jackson is that he was not practicing on Wednesday for Baltimore, but it seems that if he wanted to, he could raise his status to game time against Houston. This will go up until game time, leaving the coaches and fans waiting for anything official.
