The Baltimore Ravens, who are 1-4 and have matched their worst five-game start in franchise history, will try to break a three-game losing streak Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams without quarterback Lamar Jackson.
The two-time league MVP will miss his second consecutive game with a strained hamstring. Jackson has not practiced since sustaining the injury in the Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Cooper Rush will get his second consecutive start, with Tyler Huntley elevated from the practice squad to back him up.
Rush was 14-for-20 for 179 yards, no touchdown passes and three interceptions in Baltimore’s 44-10 loss to the Houston Texans last Sunday. Ravens coach John Harbaugh was noncommittal about the team’s quarterback plan throughout the week, but he said Rush would get the start if Jackson could not. Rush will lead the first-team offense, with Huntley potentially getting an opportunity in certain packages or if Rush struggles.
“I feel like if anybody is missing their starting quarterback on any team, it’ll be a challenging week,” Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers said Wednesday. “We believe in Coop, and we believe in what we have. We believe in our team, so I think we’ll be all right.”
Without Jackson under center, the Ravens have gone 4-11 and have lost five consecutive games. They’ve also been held to 17 points or fewer during that five-game stretch.
Jackson’s injury came at an awful time for the Ravens, who have been struggling terribly on defense and are in the midst of a stretch where they’re playing four straight games against teams that made the playoffs last season.
The silver lining is the Ravens have a bye next week, so that gives Jackson a third week of recovery before Baltimore plays host to the Chicago Bears in Week 8. Baltimore has been optimistic that Jackson will be able to return after the bye.
Even if they go 1-5, Ravens officials seem unlikely to waive the white flag on the season. Their schedule after the bye week gets much lighter, and they play five divisional games over the final eight weeks of the season. Their surest path to the playoffs would be to sweep the rest of the division and hope to pick up some wins elsewhere.
“We have to be more efficient, on first and second down, especially, and get more manageable third downs,” Rush said. “We were able to convert on a few kind of longer ones, but those are hard, those are rare. Just more efficiency, overall, to get us going.”
Jackson will be joined on the sideline Sunday by fullback Patrick Ricard (calf), middle linebacker Roquan Smith (hamstring) and cornerback Chidobe Awuzie (hamstring).
However, the Ravens did get some positive news on the injury front this week with left tackle Ronnie Stanley (ankle), safety Kyle Hamilton (groin) and cornerback Marlon Humphrey (calf) all returning to practice.