Lamar Jackson walked out of M&T Bank Stadium in a boot on Sunday, and Baltimore spent the next 48 hours finding out exactly how much of its season rides on one ankle.
Jackson sprained his left ankle on the final snap of the first half against Tennessee, sacked by Titans defensive end Jermaine Johnson, who landed on the back of his leg. He had an MRI on Monday. ESPN and NFL Network both reported the same thing: a sprain, day-to-day, nothing surgical, nothing long-term.
That is the good news. The rest of the tape is less reassuring.
The Ravens Won 24-18 and Still Looked Broken
Baltimore moved to 3-1 with the win, but look at how the halves split. With Jackson on the field, the Ravens were surgical: 15-of-20, 222 yards, two touchdowns, a 144.2 passer rating by halftime. Without him, they ran five second-half drives and scored zero points.
Tyler Huntley came in and was perfectly competent, going 8-of-9 for 63 yards with four carries for 16 yards. Competent is not the same as functional. Huntley has 16 career starts across seven years, 11 of them in Baltimore, and the Ravens know exactly what that offense looks like: smaller, slower, and entirely dependent on the defense holding a lead.
Tennessee cut a 24-point hole to six. That is the warning, not the final score.
Jackson Was Playing the Best Football in the League
This is the part that stings. Jackson entered Week 4 completing 69.7 percent of his throws for 248.3 yards per game with four touchdowns and one interception. He led the NFL in yards per attempt at 9.8 and yards per completion at 14.1. He had added 124 rushing yards at 7.3 a carry.
He also has 18 career games with a passer rating of 140 or better, which is 10 more than any other quarterback since he entered the league in 2018. He was not just good through four weeks. He was the most efficient passer in football.
Week 5 Against Atlanta Is a Coin Flip
Head coach Jesse Minter, in his first year after replacing John Harbaugh, kept it vague on Monday but not grim. “I really don’t think it’s going to be crazy long-term,” Minter said. “We’ll see where that shakes out.”
Ian Rapoport reported there is an “outside chance” Jackson plays the prime-time game against Atlanta. Nobody has ruled him out. Nobody has cleared him either. Betting markets moved hard on the uncertainty alone.
Here is my read: sit him. Baltimore is 3-1 and tied atop the AFC North with Cleveland. Jackson’s 2025 season was wrecked by injuries that lingered and compounded, and the Ravens have already paid that tuition. One prime-time game in October is not worth stacking a second soft-tissue problem on top of the first.
What Nobody Has Confirmed Yet
No source has specified whether this is a high ankle sprain or a low one, and that distinction is the entire story. A low sprain is a week or two. A high sprain can be a month, and for a quarterback whose value lives in his ability to escape, a compromised ankle is worse than no ankle at all.
The MRI findings have not been made public. Baltimore also has not committed to rookie Vega Ioane as its Week 5 starting center, which matters more than usual if a hobbled quarterback is taking snaps behind him.
The Ravens have the record and the division position to be patient. They should use it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.