Ravens yet to name starting QB for playoff game vs. Bengals
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — With Lamar Jackson out for Sunday night’s playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals, who exactly is the Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback?
Ravens coach John Harbaugh said nothing after practice Friday. Baltimore will either go with backup Tyler Huntley (right shoulder) or undrafted rookie Anthony Brown.
“We’ll let you know,” Harbaugh said. “We will see when the time comes.”
It’s been one of the weirdest weeks in Ravens playoff history. Jackson missed his sixth full week of practice with a sprained knee, then surprised the team by tweeting Thursday night that his injury was more serious than initially thought. Huntley, his best replacement, suffers from tendinitis in his throwing shoulder and did not start throwing again until Thursday.
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The only healthy quarterback on the team’s 53-man roster is Brown, who has a career start.
The Ravens said Huntley was questionable on the injury report, but he was a full participant on Friday after being restricted all week. Huntley estimated that his right shoulder was “pushing about 90 to 99” percent.
When asked if he had been told he would start on Sunday night, Huntley replied: “It’s all game time decisions.”
The Ravens officially kicked Jackson out on Friday, though the quarterback essentially kicked himself out with his social media post on Thursday. Jackson tweeted that his knee “remains unstable” and classified it as a “PCL grade sprain, bordering on a 3 strain.”
Harbaugh said he didn’t know Jackson was sending that tweet.
“It’s not something we can comment on,” Harbaugh said. “The nature of a specific injury, the only person who comments is the person. There are laws to that effect. We are educated by the league in terms of what we are allowed to say and what we are not. allowed to This is nothing I can start commenting on.
Jackson is completing the fifth-year option of his rookie contract and has no guaranteed money beyond this season. If an extension can’t be reached by March, Baltimore will have to use the franchise tag on Jackson to keep him from becoming an unrestricted free agent.
When asked if Jackson was out for the entire postseason, Harbaugh replied, “I don’t know.”
The Ravens initially described Jackson’s injury prognosis as “week to week” and said it was not a season ending injury. Jackson will now miss his sixth straight game on Sunday.
“That’s why it’s so hard to stand here, and you get asked about injuries all the time,” Harbaugh said. “You don’t always know. Sometimes you hope it will be faster. I always hope the guys come back faster; that’s the start of any kind of prediction. Sometimes it goes the other way and it’s longer and you’re disappointed. That’s why it’s really hard to tell.
In five games without Jackson this season, the Ravens are 2-3 and haven’t scored more than 17 points. In four starts, Huntley passed for 471 yards, throwing for two touchdowns with two interceptions. Brown made his first career start on Sunday, when he threw two interceptions and fumbled once in a loss to the Bengals.