There have been four teams in NFL history to earn a playoff spot when starting the season 1-5.
Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh believes his squad can be the fifth.
“Our focus is going forward and what we can accomplish for the next 11 games to try to earn our way into the playoffs, which obviously, as pointed out last night, has not been done very often with the record we have,” Harbaugh said on Monday, a day after the Ravens’ 17-3 home loss to the Los Angeles Rams. “But we still believe we can do it.”
The Ravens performed much better on defense than the previous week’s 44-10 shellacking administered by the Houston Texans. Players like defensive tackle John Jenkins (sack, forced fumble, recovered fumble) stepped up and defensive backs Marlon Humphrey and Kyle Hamilton returned from a Week 5 injury to hold the Rams to a season-low 241 yards.
Now, it is the offense that must improve dramatically for the Ravens to turn their season around. That starts and ends with two-time NFL MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Jackson threw a league-leading 10 touchdown passes and posted a 130.5 passer rating in his four starts. The Ravens averaged 32.8 points per game in those starts, but they have managed a total of 13 points in the two contests since he went to the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
Harbaugh intimated after Sunday’s game that he expects Jackson to return after the bye week and play vs. Chicago on Oct. 26. Naturally, he was asked the question again on Monday.
“Well, I’m leaning into (Lamar Jackson’s return) pretty hard,” Harbaught said. “Psychologically, how much am I leaning into Lamar coming back and playing? … If I was on the couch with a psychiatrist right now, if I was spilling it, I would have to say I’m leaning really hard into that, really hard. For any kind of psychological wellbeing, spiritual wellbeing, I’m leaning hard on that happening. So, I’m very hopeful that that happens.”
In Jackson’s absence, Cooper Rush has started both games and hit on 25 of 39 passes for 251 yards, no touchdowns and four interceptions. With the Ravens trailing 17-3 early in the fourth quarter Sunday, Harbaugh turned to Tyler Huntley to make something happen. Huntley hit 10 of 15 passes for 68 yards and rushed for 39 yards, but also took four sacks.
Harbaugh said Monday he considers Rush as the team’s No. 2 QB, but then hedged.
“I’m going to say yes (to Rush), but I would also say that we’ve got two backup quarterbacks,” Harbaugh said. “And we’re going to have to see how we want to (manage) the roster.”
