{"id":411953,"date":"2025-10-01T16:37:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T16:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/411953\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T16:37:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T16:37:13","slug":"ravens-lamar-jackson-facing-multiweek-absence-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/411953\/","title":{"rendered":"Ravens’ Lamar Jackson Facing Multiweek Absence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

OCTOBER 1:\u00a0Jackson\u2019s availability for Sunday\u2019s game is still \u201cin doubt,\u201d per NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport<\/a>, but he characterized the star quarterback\u2019s status as \u201cweek-to-week,\u201d referencing and countering Tuesday\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

The news will offer some hope to fans in Baltimore, but it still feels like Rush will start in Week 5. If Rapoport is correct, however, he could be back in Week 6 as opposed to Week 8 after the Ravens\u2019 bye<\/p>\n

SEPTEMBER 30: The Ravens endured another loss to the Chiefs, this one a one-sided defeat that further exposed issues on Baltimore\u2019s leaky defense. The team carried some excuses, however, as its starting defense was down more than half its bodies by game\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A more pressing matter came when Cooper Rush<\/a> replaced Lamar Jackson<\/a> during the second half. Jackson suffered an injury to his right hamstring later deemed a strain, according to ESPN.com\u2019s Jamison Hensley<\/a> and Pro Football Talk\u2019s Mike Florio<\/a>. The superstar quarterback could not have returned to the game if it were competitive, with John Harbaugh saying (via Hensley<\/a>) there was \u201cno way\u201d his top player could have come back during the 37-20 loss.<\/p>\n

Jackson is now viewed as unlikely to be ready for Baltimore\u2019s Week 5 contest. He is expected to sit against the Texans, the Baltimore Sun\u2019s Brian Wacker reports<\/a>. A two- to three-week absence would be within the realm of possibility, per Wacker. The Ravens face the Rams in Week 6 and have their bye in Week 7. Considering the injuries the Ravens\u2019 defense has sustained, the early bye should prove beneficial.<\/p>\n

The Ravens played the Chiefs without Nnamdi Madubuike<\/a>, Travis Jones<\/a> and Kyle Van Noy<\/a>. They then lost Roquan Smith<\/a>, Marlon Humphrey<\/a> and Nate Wiggins<\/a> during the game. Ronnie Stanley<\/a> also left the Kansas City matchup, one of the more disastrous Ravens regular-season games in recent memory. Madubuike is out for the season<\/a>, and the Ravens are expected to be without Smith and Humphrey for a bit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hamstring injuries regularly sideline players multiple weeks, with some \u2014 like George Kittle<\/a>\u2018s Week 1 setback \u2014 leading to IR placements. We are not there yet with Jackson, and any Ravens hopes Jackson could be back within a four-game span would undoubtedly lead Baltimore to keep its eighth-year QB on the 53-man roster and go week to week here. But any missed time at quarterback will certainly deal a major blow to the Ravens.<\/p>\n

Jackson, 28, rebounded from injury-marred 2021 and \u201922 seasons by posting back-to-back first-team All-Pro years. The two-time MVP did not miss any games due to injury in 2023 and \u201924, rocketing to a higher level as a passer and effectively ensuring himself Hall of Fame induction down the road. But this setback does remind of those the Raven centerpiece suffered earlier this decade.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A sprained ankle in 2021 led to Jackson being shut down. His 2022 setback \u2014 a PCL sprain \u2014 generated more attention, as the Ravens had hoped the dual-threat dynamo to return<\/a>; that never came to fruition. Jackson defended himself against criticism he could have played late that season; the Ravens were eliminated in Round 1 of the playoffs with then-backup Tyler Huntley<\/a> at the controls. Jackson missed 11 games, counting the wild-card loss to the Bengals, from 2021-22.<\/p>\n

Despite struggling against the Chiefs once again, Jackson exited Week 4 with an NFL-most 10 touchdown passes this season. The Ravens signed Rush as their backup this offseason, giving the former Cowboys QB2 a two-year, $6.2MM deal<\/a>. Rush has made 14 career starts, winning nine.<\/p>\n

Despite Cowboys trade acquisition Trey Lance<\/a> needing game reps, Mike McCarthy primarily used Rush when Dak Prescott<\/a> went down midseason. Rush went 4-4 as Dallas\u2019 starter last season, posting a 12:5 TD-INT ratio with a 60.7% completion rate and just a 6.0 yards-per-attempt figure. As our Nikhil Mehta pointed out in the Ravens\u2019 Offseason In Review piece<\/a>, Rush marked a deviation from the franchise \u2014 one that had primarily stationed mobile QBs behind Jackson since the Joe Flacco<\/a> trade. Rush will be a departure from that, and the Baltimore offense would naturally look different with the 31-year-old passer replacing Jackson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OCTOBER 1:\u00a0Jackson\u2019s availability for Sunday\u2019s game is still \u201cin doubt,\u201d per NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport, but he characterized…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[117,5898,7,895,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-411953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-baltimore-ravens","9":"tag-cooper-rush","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-lamar-jackson","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","15":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","16":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115299893067259211","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}