Lamar Jackson to Start for Ravens at Quarterback vs Raiders

This week no mystery exists about who will start at quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. Lamar Jackson will start for the second time in his NFL career on Sunday when the Ravens play the Oakland Raiders, Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said on Friday.

This decision comes after the Ravens opted not to name their starter at quarterback heading into their game last week. After his team’s practice on Friday, Harbaugh said he was counting on Jackson being his starter for the Raiders game, adding that it was pretty straightforward.

For the last 11 seasons, Joe Flacco has been the starter for the Ravens, but has not practiced since he injured his hip during Baltimore’s loss of 23-16 to Pittsburgh.

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Last week Harbaugh said that Flacco could play even though he did not participate all week in practice, but that is now different after the veteran signal caller has misses two straight weeks of practice. On Friday, the Ravens officially ruled Flacco out for Sunday’s game against Oakland.

Lamar Jackson, who was chosen No. 32 overall in the 2018 NFL draft, led Baltimore to a 24-21 win against AFC North rivals the Cincinnati Bengals in his first start last Sunday.

Jackson became the first quarterback to have 100 or more yards rushing in his first start in the NFL. The 27 times he rushed the ball were the most by any quarterback since the Super Bowl era began.

Jackson now must prove to opposing defenses his ability to hurt them with his arm as well. Last week Jackson threw for 150 yards with one interception.

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Lamar Jackson told the media on Friday that he knows he can throw and did whatever necessary for the team to win last Sunday. He added that he will be throwing more in this next game.

Harbaugh said he had not noticed any difference in Jackson as he approaches his second NFL start. Harbaugh called Jackson very confident and remains the same as always.

Oakland’s defense allows 29.3 points per game making it the third worst in the league. Raiders head coach Jon Gruden on Friday said that Jackson represents a great deal of unpredictability.

Gruden added that Jackson was difficult to prepare for as you don’t know the plays Baltimore will run and you cannot judge what Jackson will do, but you are very aware of his capabilities and that makes its scary the Raiders coach concluded.