Ravens' Lamar Jackson Dealt Damning Grade

The Baltimore Ravens have toppled the Pittsburgh Steelers as the AFC North leader with five straight wins after an ugly 1-5 start to the season. On the surface, the franchise appears built for a deep playoff run. 

Derrick Henry is bulldozing defenses. The pass rush is relentless. The secondary is suffocating opposing receivers. Yet, under the winning record lies an uncomfortable truth that the Ravens are succeeding despite their quarterback, not because of him.

The two-time NFL MVP hasn’t looked like himself this season. Jackson’s struggles continued against the New York Jets in the Week 12 game. He threw 13 completions of 23 passes for just 153 yards in a 23-10 win. It was his second straight game without reaching the end zone through the air. His 11 rushing yards on seven attempts just made his stat sheet look worse. 

The Ravens QB earned a D grade in ESPN's Week 12 quarterback report card. 

“In the last three games, he completed less than 60 percent of his passes, threw only one touchdown passes and provided 57 total rushing yards. He's simply not the same dynamic quarterback at this point in time, ” Brent Sobleski wrote. 

Lamar Jackson’s Injury Struggles

Jackson left with a hamstring injury in a 37–20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4. He missed three games and watched the Ravens fall to a 1-5 record. ​He returned in Week 9 against the Dolphins and dropped a decent performance, completing 18 of 23 passes for 204 yards and four touchdowns in a 28–6 blowout win.

Since that Miami game, Jackson has been diagnosed with a new issue every week. First came knee soreness. He appeared on the Week 11 injury report with a knee issue and missed a Wednesday practice before playing in the win over the Browns. 

The following week, he missed another practice, this time with an ankle injury, before being cleared to start against the Jets. However, he did not blame the injury for his underwhelming performance.

"I can't call it," he told reporters, "but I'm out there so I feel like I should still be able to do what I do. ... I feel like we just need to execute a lot better. We getting great field position, but we're not putting points on the board. That have nothing to do with no injury."

By the time the Ravens opened preparation for a Thanksgiving showdown with the Bengals, Jackson showed up in the injury column with a toe issue. 

Jackson was listed as a non‑participant in an early-week walkthrough with the new issue. It's the third straight week in which the Ravens QB missed a practice session with a different lower‑body injury.