Will Lamar Jackson play in Wild Card game?
By Josh Hill
With the NFL Playoff picture set, the biggest question Ravens fans are asking is whether the Lamar Jackson injury will keep him out of the Wild Card game.
Even though the regular season is over, the biggest question remains in Baltimore. Will Lamar Jackson play next week or will the Ravens have to try and make it without him?
The only difference is there might not be a week after next. Baltimore clinched a playoff berth a few weeks ago and now know where they’ll be heading next weekend. The Ravens have been able to afford not having Jackson these last four weeks but the hope with resting him was that he’d be able to return when it counts — and Wild Card Weekend is exactly that.
Baltimore is headed to Cincinnati next weekend for a rematch of the game the two teams played in the very same place in Week 18. Jackson was ruled out earlier in the week and missed the game, but it’s now do-or-die time for the Ravens and they’ll need Jackson back for their best chance at usurping the Bengals in the playoffs.
Lamar Jackson Injury Update: Will Ravens QB play in Wild Card game?
ESPN insider Adam Schefter offered up an update on Jackson’s status on Saturday night, before the Ravens knew when and where their Wild Card game would take place.
It wasn’t much more than what we already know, but it was encouraging nonetheless.
“Despite being ruled out for Sunday’s regular-season finale, not having practiced once in over a month, and still having swelling in his knee, Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson has ‘a strong chance’ of playing Baltimore’s wild-card game next weekend, per a league source,” Schefter reported on Saturday.
While it’s certainly encouraging to hear this news, Ravens fans will believe Jackson is back when he actually steps foot on the field. Ever since his PCL sprain was diagnosed, the bird has been anything but the word as it feels like every week Jackson isn’t ruled out until he is.
This past week was no exception, as Jackson wasn’t counted out until it became clear that Baltimore’s Week 18 game was pretty much irrelevant to its playoff seeding. A potential home playoff game was on the line — albeit with a coin flip involved — but it wasn’t a situation the Ravens felt necessary to rush Jackson back.
Next weekend is a different beast, as it’s quite literally the playoffs and the Ravens need Jackson back. So while this isn’t totally different from what we’ve initially heard at the start of each week in regard to Jackson’s health, it’s certainly worth getting a little more excited about.