The Baltimore Ravens ruled out Lamar Jackson on Saturday for Sunday’s AFC North game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Jackson, who has a high ankle sprain, was limited in practice all week and had been listed as questionable on Friday. He will miss his third straight game, and Tyler Huntley will make his third straight start.
On Friday, head coach Jesse Minter had said the decision would rest with Jackson. “Between Lamar and our staff and us, it’s going to be a decision based on him and how he feels,” Minter said. “So, he’s had a good couple days, but we’ll see how it goes over the next 48 hours.” It took about a day.
“He wants to play”
Asked whether there was a medical threshold Jackson had to reach, Minter said: “I don’t know that there is. It’s just one of those injuries where it’s a combination of what he can do, how he can move, how he can do things and how effective he feels like he can be.” Asked whether last season, when Jackson never fully got back to his best after an injury, played into the thinking, he said: “One thing I will say about Lamar … he’s super competitive and he wants to play.”
Jackson, who was hurt in Week 4 against the Tennessee Titans, said on Friday that he still felt pain when he ran and would not play if he could only stand in the pocket. “If I can just go out there and just be a statue and get hit, there’s no positives in that,” he said.
Huntley: “I just got to be ready”
Huntley spoke on Friday, before the decision was made. “Just like every week, you know, just prepare to play, and then once we get to Sunday, we’ll see,” he said. “I just got to be ready to play Sunday if that’s the case.”
He led the Ravens to an overtime win at Atlanta in Week 5, but they lost 13-10 at Cleveland last week after scoring 10 points on their first two drives. Asked how the offense can score more, he said: “That’s what we gonna have to do to win, and that’s what’s required.” Asked what went wrong after the first quarter in Cleveland, he said the Ravens kept making “critical mistakes” across the offense. “We just was making the wrong mistakes at the right time,” he said.
Huntley will have a new center. Cam Jurgens, whom the Ravens acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 7 for a 2027 fifth-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick, has cleared the concussion protocol, practiced fully all week and has no injury designation. “Even when he’s not in or when he just taking his break that he usually do, he’s in the back asking what’s the plays and, you know, working through his calls,” Huntley said. “He’s a pretty great center.”
On Jackson, Huntley said: “Man, he been working hard, but I know if he’s ready to play, he’s gonna play. So there’s no question about that.”
Robinson’s season is over
Minter opened Friday’s news conference by announcing that outside linebacker Tavius Robinson has a season-ending injury. Robinson, who has a pectoral injury, leads the Ravens with 3.5 sacks and eight quarterback hits, and he was placed on injured reserve on Saturday. “I feel for him more than anything,” Minter said. “Just the amount of how hard he works and the type of year he was having, what he brings to the group.”
Rookies Zion Young and Ethan Burke should get more snaps. “They’re at that point now where they’ve played enough,” Minter said. “You don’t feel like they’re rookies anymore in a sense that they’ve been out there, they’ve played, they understand the physicality.” The Ravens also elevated outside linebacker Adisa Isaac from the practice squad and signed guard Kyle Hergel to the 53-man roster on Saturday.
Safety Jaylinn Hawkins (knee) is also out. Minter said he does not think it is “real long term,” and he named cornerback Chidobe Awuzie and safeties Keondre Jackson and K’Von Wallace among those who could fill in, along with Kyle Hamilton moving around. “I thought Keyon handled himself pretty well last game,” he added, referring to cornerback Keyon Martin.
Bengals next
The Ravens (4-2) are tied with the Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers at the top of the AFC North. The Bengals (3-2) are coming off their bye. Kickoff in Baltimore is 1 p.m. ET Sunday, which is 8 p.m. in Cairo. The Ravens are 1-1 with Huntley as their starter this season.
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