Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens had a tough offensive performance in Week 11 against the Carolina Panthers, winning a defensive struggle, 13-3. Baltimore’s defense was lights out in the game as three of their players, cornerback Marlon Humphrey, linebacker Patrick Queen and cornerback Marcus Peters all finished the game with grades of at least 90.
The same cannot be said about the offense, which struggled to get things going against a Panthers team that has been far from dominant defensively. It took until the fourth quarter for the Ravens to score a touchdown when Lamar Jackson scored on a one-yard run.
Overall, it was a relatively underwhelming performance by the former MVP. Jackson completed 24-of-33 pass attempts but for only 209 yards, throwing one interception in the process. His usually dynamic performance on the ground was lacking as well as Jackson ran the ball 11 times for 31 yards.
The 2.82 yards per carry that he averaged is the second lowest for a game in his career in which he wasn’t forced out by injury. The lowest came in Week 1 of the 2019 season, his MVP campaign, when he averaged 2.0 yards per carry against the Miami Dolphins. He more than made up for it with his arm in that game, completing 85 percent of his passes for 324 yards and five touchdowns.
Could the lack of production on the ground be a byproduct of an injury? Jackson did not practice on Wednesday, as he was listed as out on the injury report with a hip injury.
Jackson also missed practice time last week in preparation for the Panthers game with an illness. This will be something to keep a close eye on as Jackson performed like a player who was not 100 percent healthy in that game.
Despite the missed practice, head coach John Harbaugh is confident that his starting quarterback will be out there this upcoming weekend for their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, saying, “We had an issue from the game. He’s going to play in the game, but I just wanted to hold him back and let him rest today for practice.”
That is certainly encouraging news as the Ravens are seemingly just limiting his practice reps for the week. However, if the injury is serious enough that he is missing practice, it is worth keeping an eye on his condition could worsen throughout the week even with some time off.
