“It Does Look Bleak” - Rich: How Lamar Jackson’s Thumb Injury Impacts Rest of Ravens’ Season

Seven weeks ago, the Baltimore Ravens went into Indianapolis and, in Rich's words, "absolutely smoked them." People were calling them the AFC North favorites, the AFC favorites, a Super Bowl team.

Smash cut to now. Rich laid out the timeline, and it is brutal. Lamar Jackson missed three weeks with an ankle injury, and the Ravens lost back-to-back division games to Ohio teams, in Cleveland and at home against Cincinnati, where the Bengals put up 35 unanswered points on Baltimore's defense in the second half.

Then Jackson came back in Buffalo, just in time. One swing of his arm later, his first throw hit his hand on the arm of Greg Rousseau. Now he is out indefinitely with a broken throwing thumb that requires surgery, he is on IR, and nobody knows if he is done for the year. Then Huntley came in, and Snoop hurt his toe.

So the Ravens are 4-4, on a short week, and first up in Week 9 against a Jacksonville team Rich said is destroying everybody in front of it. They are about to start their third straight quarterback making his first career start: Joe Fagnano out of UConn. And Zay Flowers, Baltimore's best player, finished the game with as many catches and yards "as we did yesterday," as the studio put it.

Head coach Jesse Minter's message reflected the new reality. "It's definitely my job to make sure that we stay together, that we don't point fingers, that we have each other's back, that we believe in the next man up mentality," Minter said. "We got to really, really just pour into the belief and believe in the guys that we have and move forward."

The crew noted how fast life comes at you in the NFL. A week earlier, Minter talked about needing veteran leadership to close out games in the fourth quarter. Now he needs all 53 men to believe just to win a game. And Jacksonville, as one voice in the studio put it, has "a master's degree, if not a doctorate degree, in shutting down the run," with Liam Coen unlikely to take his foot off the gas.

Then came the provocative question. With running back trade calls flying around the league, is anyone calling Baltimore about selling? Rich did not think so. "They're still four and four, man," he said. "Stranger things have happened. I don't think they're going to pull the plug." If he were Eric DeCosta and the phone rang, he would hang up. "How dare you?"

Rich did not sugarcoat it, though. "You look at the Ravens, it does not look good. It does look bleak," he said. After Jacksonville, the Chargers come to town on a Monday night, and Rich does not expect Jackson to be back anytime soon after thumb surgery on his throwing hand.

But his hope came from an unlikely place: Tampa Bay. Rich pointed out that the Bucs have been winning games by handing the ball off. "So, if the Bucs can win games where Baker has no completions and no yards, the Ravens sure can," he said. At some point, a run game sets up a play fake and a throw to an open receiver.

The bigger issue is depth. "They got to find another quarterback because Justice Hill can't be your backup against the Jaguars," Rich said. Tyson Bagent rumors are already floating. Rich contrasted that with the Giants, who went out and got a quarterback similar to Jaxson Dart, the player the playbook is written for. "You're in different pews of the same church," he said, and the Giants did it early enough to get him up to speed for when games matter.

For now, Baltimore has to turn around fast, on a short week, against one of the hottest teams in football. Stranger things have happened. Rich just isn't betting the house on it.