Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson emerged from the field house like a phoenix Thursday in Owings Mills, his back contusion protected by a flak jacket and teammates and coaches energized by his presence on an otherwise bitterly cold afternoon.
The two-time NFL Most Valuable Player’s full participation in practice for a second straight day was a welcome sight for a season that hangs in the balance. Jackson said that he will “100%” play in Sunday night’s regular-season finale against the Steelers in Pittsburgh, where the winner will be crowned AFC North champs and advance to the playoffs and the loser’s season will be over.
“I feel great,” he said.
Certainly better than he did two weeks ago.
Jackson called the back contusion that he suffered in a Week 16 loss to the New England Patriots that knocked him out of that game and caused him to miss last week’s must-win contest against the Green Bay Packers “extremely nasty” and added that he was “in pain.”
He also dismissed any notion that he was faking or overdramatizing his latest malady.
“I always want to play football,” he said Thursday in Owings Mills, where he was a full participant in practice for a second straight day. “I was really hurt. I don’t know why I have to get questioned about or I hear things about, ‘Oh I don’t know if he really hurt.’ I never quit on my team before. I’ve never quit anything, to be honest with y’all. I don’t know where that noise came from.
“Some people probably think I’m a robot, but I’m a human being too. Unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid that injury.”
Assuming he practices Friday as expected, it will also mark the first time that Jackson will have a full week of practice in two months.
“It’s the closest we’ve been,” offensive coordinator Todd Monken said when asked how confident he is that Jackson will have his full complement of skills for what is a de facto playoff game for Baltimore in what has been a topsy-turvy season filled with injuries, questions and criticisms. “So, we’re excited. You like having your quarterback out there every day.”
Jackson, unsurprisingly, has been at the nexus of many of the questions in what has been an incongruent and tumultuous season amid a series of afflictions for one of the game’s typically most dynamic and explosive players.
First, there was the hamstring injury he suffered during a Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that knocked him from that game and kept him out of the next three as well, two of which were losses.
Jackson returned in Week 9, threw four touchdown passes and had a near-perfect passer rating in a rout over the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. Then a week later, he operated the offense smoothly in the noisy confines of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota and navigated the blitz-happy Vikings defense with aplomb, guiding the Ravens to another victory.
Wins over the hapless Cleveland Browns and New York Jets followed to mark five straight victories as Baltimore climbed back from the abyss of a 1-5 start to the top of the division, but the list of physical ailments continued to grow.
Knee, ankle and toe issues were pesky inhibitors, though Jackson did not blame his poor play this season on any physical problems, even as the Ravens lost their next two at home, first to the Steelers, then the Cincinnati Bengals in a Thanksgiving night fiasco.
Then came the Patriots game.
With the score tied at 7 late in the second quarter and Baltimore driving toward another score, Jackson scrambled for 3 yards up the middle, but as he went down safety Craig Woodson’s knee drove into his back. Jackson winced and heaved as he went to the sideline and then the locker room. There, he was administered an injection of the anti-inflammatory drug Toradol, to no avail. He tried to throw a few passes to trainers, but the pain was too much and he didn’t return.
With Jackson out against the Packers, Tyler “Snoop” Huntley filled the void and helped lead the Ravens to the 42-24 victory at Lambeau Field, where Derrick Henry rushed for 216 yards and four touchdowns.
Two days later, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said that he was optimistic that Jackson would be able to play this week against Pittsburgh. For the quarterback, it became clear, he said, on Monday after undergoing more rehab, working out and throwing more passes.
Jackson returned to the practice field Wednesday sporting a flak jacket to protect his low back. He said he will wear the extra padding for the game as well, though he said it doesn’t affect his ability to throw or do the things he normally does.
He also said the criticism he has endured during what has been perhaps the worst of his eight seasons doesn’t provide any added motivation.
“I just want to win,” he said. “I don’t really care about the criticism, it’s going to be that way, especially with how the season was going and stuff like that. When you’re winning, there’s no noise, but soon as you lose, or things don’t look right, all types of noise come out of nowhere. So, it is what it is.”
He also disputed suggestions raised in a column by Baltimore Sun columnist Mike Preston that he stays up until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. playing video games or that he has fallen asleep in team meetings — though he did say he was sleeping during this past Sunday’s Browns-Steelers game as part of his rehab and that he didn’t want to “jinx” the outcome, with Pittsburgh needing to lose to keep the Ravens’ season alive. Likewise, Jackson insisted that he has a good relationship with Harbaugh.
“Yeah, I believe so,” he said. “Like I said, I don’t know where the noise come from.”
Teammates in recent days have likewise backed Jackson’s competitiveness.
“I can’t really speak on motivating Lamar,” cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. “I think Lamar is very self-motivated. I don’t know if he lets external factors really motivate him, but I do know that if he’s out there, he’ll be ready to go.”
Added safety Kyle Hamilton: “I don’t think it’s ever a matter of, does he want to? I think it’s just a matter of, is he physically able to do so? … I’ve been around this dude for the past four years, and I know what he’s about. I know that he practices what he preaches, and if he’s able to go out there, play and practice, he will do so. He’s a warrior, and I respect him. I respect who he is as a person and as a player. But yes, he’s a two-time MVP and the face of the franchise; people are probably going to talk a little bit. But it’s not with any negative connotation attached to it.”
But with a prohibitive $74.5 million salary cap hit looming each of the next two seasons and a lack of clarity over current contract extension talks, questions about Jackson, who will turn 29 next week, and his future have arisen, particularly after what has been perhaps the worst of his eight seasons that still includes just one AFC championship game appearance.
Long reluctant to discuss his contract during the season, Jackson when asked said that he “absolutely” wants to be in Baltimore.
It was only two years ago, however, when he requested to be traded as the NFL’s owners meetings kicked off. He later said that was simply part of doing business while negotiating his first contract extension, which he did without an agent.
Yet many of the same narratives that spilled over from the 2022 season — from a season-ending knee injury to contentious negotiations — have resurfaced again. Though Jackson doesn’t quite view the two years through the same lens.
“It’s different in a way because we have a chance to make the playoffs and I can actually play,” he said. “Then, I couldn’t play, so it’s different.”
For now, the only question that remains is whether the outcome in Pittsburgh will be any different than it has been of late.
Jackson has been on the losing end in three of his past four starts at Acrisure Stadium. During that span, he has been sacked 18 times, thrown six interceptions and has just three touchdown passes.
Now comes another opportunity, in what will be the first win-or-go-home game in the final week of the regular season for the storied rivalry.
“You have to be calm in the storm,” he said. “So, that’s my approach. And I feel like that’s the team’s approach.”
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