There’s been a lot of speculation about the status of Baltimore Ravens star quarterback Lamar Jackson for their NFL Wild Card Playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
The former NFL MVP missed the past five regular-season games with a PCL sprain in his knee. Thus far this week, things have not been trending in the direction of Jackson suiting up in Cincinnati. He has not taken part in practice and seemed doubtful, at best.
Jackson has now confirmed that will not play in the wild card round in a series of posts on social media Thursday evening.
“Thank you everyone for your support and concerns regarding my injuries. I want to give you all an update as I am in the recovery process. I’ve suffered a PCL grade 2 sprain on the borderline of a strain 3. There is still inflammation surrounding my knee and my knee remains unstable.
I’m still in good spirits, as I continue with treatments on the road to recovery. I wish I could be out there with my guys more than anything but I can’t give a 100% of myself to my guys and fans I’m still hopeful we still have a chance.”
Lamar Jackson on his status for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals
It is rare that a player would take to social media in order to announce his status for such a big game.
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Baltimore Ravens likely to rely on Tyler Huntley with Lamar Jackson sidelined
In their Week 18 game against the Bengals, Baltimore relied on rookie Anthony Brown to start with both Jackson and Huntley sidelined. The former Oregon star threw two interceptions and lost a fumble in a disastrous all-around performance.
Huntley missed that game while dealing with shoulder and wrist injuries. He made a brief appearance in practice on Thursday, an indication that he should be able to play against Cincinnati.
Even then, Baltimore faces a major uphill climb against the defending AFC champions. Not only is Cincinnati in the midst of an eight-game winning streak, the Ravens just haven’t looked like the same team without Jackson in the mix. They averaged 13 points in the five games he was sidelined in comparison to 23.8 points when the quarterback was on the field.
As for a potential return to the field should Baltimore pull off an upset against Cincinnati, it’s not looking good for Lamar Jackson. This also means that the impending free agent could have played his final game in a Ravens uniform.