Latest injury report has Ravens season hanging by thread

That is a lot of star power potentially out of the lineup, and it significantly hurts the Ravens' chances even against a 1-3 Houston Texans team. 

Jackson's injury is obviously the most problematic. Not only is he their best player and having a great start to the season, but he is the player who makes the entire offense work. There is no way backup Cooper Rush is going to be able to run it the same way. That is especially bad news against a Texans defense that has actually played extremely well this season despite the bad record. 

The injuries to Humphrey, Awuzie, Smith, Hamilton and Oweh are also terrible news for a Ravens defense that has been one of the worst in the NFL through the first four games. 

Texans' postseason odds would plummet with a loss

If they lose on Sunday to the Texans, it will drop the Ravens to 1-4 for the season, which would match the worst start in the history of the franchise. The only other time Baltimore started 1-4 to a season was back in 2015 on their way to a 5-11 performance. 

Going back to the start of the 2015 season, only six of the 71 teams that have started 1-4 (or worse) ended up making the playoffs. That is roughly an 8% success rate. If you go back to the start of the 2010 season, it is only seven out of 107 teams. That is roughly a 6% success rate. How big of a swing would a win make? Teams that have started 2-3 since the start of the 2010 season make the playoffs at a 22% rate (29 out of 130 teams). 

Win or lose, there is always a chance the Ravens can get healthy and go on a run later in the season. After the Texans, they play the Los Angeles Rams, then have a bye week, and the schedule does soften in the second half of the season. But a loss on Sunday would leave them with almost no margin for error.