Lamar Jackson says he is no longer a statue. A week after he said he could not play if he was going to be stuck in the pocket, the Baltimore Ravens quarterback is set to return on Sunday at Buffalo after missing three games with a high ankle sprain. “Yeah, I feel like I’m no longer a statue, man,” Jackson said on Friday. “I’m able to move around a little better so I can give it a shot.”
Coach Jesse Minter said earlier on Friday that the Ravens expect to have Jackson. “I’m excited,” Jackson said. “I’m always excited when I’m able to be back on the field with my guys, man.” Asked how he feels compared with a week ago, he said: “It’s better. It’s better.” He said he still feels pain when he plants, but “it’s bearable,” and he is treating it with “ice, game ready, flush, the treatment, keep my maintenance going. I’m good.”
“Why would you second-guess me?”
Jackson was asked what he would say to people who doubt whether he would play hurt. “Why would you second-guess me? Why would you second-guess me?” he answered. He said he sees what is written about his injuries “because I’m tagged in it, though, not because I go searching for it,” and added: “People are always going to say what they’re gonna say. I’m gonna always play football.” He also said he liked a recent post that compared him to a Lamborghini.
He explained why he was ruled out a day before last Sunday’s game. “I woke up, my ankle was swollen. So that pretty much just did it right there,” he said. “The swelling came back into it. I feel like it would have been hard for me to make a decision on the day of the game with that happening, reoccurring.”
Jackson said sitting out was hard even when the team won. “It’s tough. Even winning the games is tough because I wanna play,” he said. “Unfortunately, I had to sit down for three weeks, but I’m back now. So I’m not dwelling on it.” Baltimore went 1-2 without him, winning 30-23 at Atlanta before losing 13-10 at Cleveland and 35-13 at home to Cincinnati. The Ravens went 3-1 in his four starts, and he was hurt in the 24-18 win over Tennessee on October 4.
“It’s four and three right now. Last year we was one and five”
Jackson defended first-year coach Jesse Minter. “I feel like coach is doing a great job. It’s four and three right now. Last year we was one and five,” he said. “So I feel like you should have an upside to look at instead of just running on, you guys just lost two in a row. We’re better than we was last year.”
He said the urgency in the building is “extremely high” and would not single out anyone for the offense’s problems while he was out. “We had penalties and stuff that happened. I can’t do anything about penalties. I can’t fix people’s assignments and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s a team game. We all gotta come to play, not just one player.” His message to teammates this week was simple: “Everybody do their job. We all getting paid to play the game.”
No plan to protect the ankle
Asked if he would manage how he moves in the pocket, with a Thursday game coming four days later, Jackson said no. “Man, when we out there playing football, I’m not thinking about trying to manage anything. I’m trying to win,” he said. “I can’t think about managing my movements in the pocket. I’m trying to get that ball out to one of my guys and let them do the rest.”
On the Bills, he said: “That’s a great team who we’re facing this Sunday. I believe the defense is pretty good. The offense is pretty good, special teams is pretty good. So we gotta go to Buffalo ready to play.” Asked if Buffalo is a rival, he said: “Every team’s a rival.”
The Ravens play at the Bills on Sunday, November 1, at 1:00 p.m. ET, which is 8:00 p.m. in Cairo, and then host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday, November 5.
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