"Just Stay Alive": Lamar Jackson Tells Ravens He Will Be Back This Season

The message Lamar Jackson sent his teammates was three words long, and it carried the whole of Baltimore's season inside it. "Just stay alive."

Within a day of suffering a fractured and dislocated thumb against the Buffalo Bills, Jackson told the Ravens he plans to return this season, according to ESPN and NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport. It was the first real hope Baltimore has had since its franchise quarterback went down on the very first offensive snap of a 36-10 loss on November 1, an injury so severe that head coach Jesse Minter said Jackson needed surgery and would go on injured reserve, and hinted the damage could "potentially" be season-ending.

The timeline Rapoport reported is long but not hopeless. Jackson is expected to miss six to nine weeks with the injury to his throwing thumb. The short end of that window would have him back for Week 15 against the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 20, the start of a closing stretch of four straight AFC North games. The long end would keep him out until the regular-season finale against Pittsburgh in early January — leaving almost no time to find rhythm before the playoffs, if Baltimore is even still alive by then.

That "if" is doing a lot of work. The Ravens are 4-5 and have lost four straight games, and their offence has scored fewer than 14 points in each of those defeats. Thursday's 33-10 loss to Jacksonville was the latest evidence of a team running on empty without its quarterback. Jackson had already missed three games this season with a high ankle sprain, in which Baltimore went 1-2 and slid to the bottom of the AFC North. His return from that injury lasted exactly one snap.

Now the Ravens are asking a patchwork quarterback room to hold the season together. Baltimore finalised a trade with the Arizona Cardinals on Friday for veteran Jacoby Brissett, who is expected to start against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday, November 16, after injuries to Jackson and Tyler Huntley forced undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano into the lineup. Brissett's job, as Jackson framed it to his teammates, is simple: keep the team alive long enough for the cavalry to arrive.

There is no guarantee it works. A nine-week recovery would mean Jackson returns for a single regular-season game, cold, with the season quite possibly already decided. And Jackson, 29, has thrown for 967 yards and six touchdowns this season while rushing for another 144 yards and a score — numbers that reflect a campaign already interrupted twice. But the message itself matters. A week ago, the question in Baltimore was whether its two-time MVP would play again this year at all. Now the question is when, and whether the team he left behind can still be standing when he gets back. Jackson has made his part of the bargain clear. The rest is up to the Ravens.