A bizarre, and poorly timed, change to the Ravens’ Friday practice report has been explained by the team.
“Lamar Jackson was present for and participated fully in our entire practice ahead of Sunday’s game against the Bears,” the Ravens said in a statement issued on Saturday afternoon. “Upon further evaluation and after conferring with the league office, because Lamar didn’t take starter reps in practice, we updated our report to reflect his practice participation.”
The specific rule triggering the change has not previously been publicized by the league. If there even is such a rule, the Ravens apparently weren’t aware of it.
Jackson fully participated in Friday’s practice. He did not participate as the starting quarterback. So his participation was limited.
The situation further underscores the apparently broad range of participation that counts as “limited.” What really is “limited”? Who really knows?
Actually, it could be argued that, if a starter takes no first-team reps in a practice, he didn’t practice at all.
The broader concern is this, given the NBA’s still-steaming gambling scandal. Someone knew Lamar wasn’t going to start on Saturday, after he was listed as fully participating in practice and before he was ruled out on Saturday. Although the teams are typically inclined to hold their cards close to the vest for competitive purposes, someone knew the truth. And someon could have shared the truth with others. And they could have shared the truth with others. And someone could have acted accordingly in the sportsbook apps on their phones.
Rozier’s case came to light because sportsbooks flagged unusual betting activity. If someone decides to not be a pig at the trough, the alarms won’t sound. And it will become impossible to know whether inside information was misused.
Sometimes, you can’t make it up. Sometimes, you don’t have to.
Only one day after the NBA found itself embroiled in the biggest scandal to date of the era of legalized, normalized, and heavily monetized sports betting, the Ravens (and, necessarily, the NFL) stepped on a giant rake.
Two-time MVP Lamar Jackson, who last played in Week 4, finally returning to practice this week. He was listed as limited on Wednesday and Thursday. Then came Friday. The Ravens listed Jackson as a full participant in practice.
That sent a distinct message to the public. And, for these purposes, the betting public. It suggested that Lamar is good to go. That Lamar will be playing. Which surely influenced more than a few spread and moneyline wagers placed on Baltimore since the label was applied.
Today, out of nowhere, Jackson was ruled out for Sunday’s game. And then, to make matters MUCH worse, his practice status for Friday was retroactively changed from “full” to “limited.”
There’s plenty of digging to be done as to what actually happened, and as to how much he did or didn’t practice on Friday. Needless to say, it’s the worst possible thing that could have happened for the NFL — at the worst possible time.
And here’s the real question. Who knew before today that Lamar wouldn’t be playing? The Ravens put Tyler Huntley at the podium this week, and Lamar didn’t speak to reporters. In hindsight, the breadcrumbs were there that Lamar, even if in uniform, possibly wouldn’t be starting.
For now, it sounds like someone got freaked out by the NBA scandal and made a rash decision that sends up gigantic red flags. Either way, we have a feeling there’s a lot more to the story. And there’s a chance that it may get worse, not better, as more comes out.
Meanwhile, Big Shield starts in Las Vegas. Coincidentally, the shit eventually hits the fan in Baltimore.
The Ravens have announced that Lamar Jackson will not play on Sunday against the Bears.
Tyler Huntley is expected to start at quarterback on Sunday, making his first start of the season after Cooper Rush started the last two games in Jackson’s absence.
In addition to announcing that Jackson is out, the Ravens also changed Jackson’s Friday practice status. Yesterday, the Ravens said that Jackson was a full participant in practice. Today the Ravens said that Jackson had actually been a limited participant in practice.
Retroactively changing a player’s practice status is highly unusual, and could land the Ravens in hot water. The NFL requires teams to release accurate information about a player’s practice status because the NFL does not want insiders passing along information to gamblers. If there was ever a week when NFL teams needed to be transparent about that, it was this week, when the FBI arrested an NBA player and an NBA coach amid accusations that they were providing information to gamblers.
So the Ravens could be in trouble in two respects: Having to play the Bears without Jackson, and having to explain why they said Jackson was a full participant in practice when he wasn’t.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson returned to practice this week and hopes to return to the field on Sunday against the Bears, after missing the last two games with a hamstring injury. If he does, he’ll be facing an injury-riddled Bears secondary.
The Bears have been playing without their best cornerback, Jaylon Johnson, since he had core muscle surgery last month. Joining Johnson on injured reserve is cornerback Terrell Smith, while cornerback Zah Frazier is on the non-football injury list.
But while the Bears have managed to get by without those three, on Friday they ruled out two more starters in the secondary, nickel back Kyler Gordon and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. With five players out, the Bears are as depleted as any secondary in the league.
If Jackson is healthy for Sunday, he should feast against that defense. Although the Ravens are struggling through a difficult season at 1-5, when Jackson was healthy he was throwing the ball as well as he ever has, with a career-high completion rate of 71.6 percent, a career-high average of 9.1 yards per attempt, and an impressive ratio of 10 touchdowns and one interception.
Jackson at 100 percent against this Bears defense could be just what the Ravens need to start a run that gets them back into contention.
When Ben Johnson became the Bears’ head coach at the start of this year, he was inheriting a young quarterback and a team that was coming off three straight last-place finishes and hadn’t won a playoff game since 2010. But don’t tell Johnson that makes the Bears a rebuilding team.
Johnson said today that he has never viewed the mission as anything other than to win, starting this season.
“The mission has always been to win and to win now,” Johnson said. “I said that in my opening press conference and I’ve been consistent with that with the team. That’s the end-all be-all, that’s what we’re going out there to do. I don’t see this as a team in transition. This is the 2025 Chicago Bears and we have a chance to put a stamp on what this chapter of Chicago Bears history is going to look like.”
The Bears are 4-2 and head to Baltimore on a four-game winning streak. If they can win on Sunday to make it 5-2, they’ll start to be looked at as realistic playoff contenders. Something Johnson thinks they should be, right now.
