Baltimore Ravens

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has not played since Oct. 4, missing the past three games with a high ankle sprain.

Ravens coach Jesse Minter on Monday expressed optimism about Jackson’s availability for Sunday, and Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Jackson is expected to return this week.

Then again, Jackson was trending toward playing last week.

He was limited in all three practices and initially questionable to play. Jackson was inactive for Sunday’s game, a 35-13 loss to the Bengals.

Minter would not confirm a CBS pregame report that Jackson woke up Saturday with increased swelling in his injured left ankle.

The Ravens are 1-2 without Jackson, having averaged 17.7 points and 328.3 yards per game.

“Lamar’s 1-of-1, right? Two-time MVP, obviously a high-caliber player, but I just don’t like the built-in excuse of why things are going a certain way,” Minter said Monday, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “So while we know the caliber of player Lamar is and the numbers when he’s out there versus when he’s not, we understand all that. That’s why he’s who he is and why he’s won the awards that he’s won, but we can still operate better in those times where we don’t have him for sure.”

Ravens rookie guard Vega Ioane had to leave Sunday’s loss to the Bengals with a knee injury and a report on Tuesday suggests he’ll miss some more time before returning to action.

NFL Media reports that Ioane has been diagnosed with an MCL sprain. The injury is expected to have him out of the lineup in the near future.

Ioane opened the season at right guard and moved to center after injuries to Jovaughn Gwyn and Ethan Pocic. The Ravens traded for Cam Jurgens and he made his debut against Cincinnati, which had Ioane back on the right side before his injury.

Andrew Vorhees was inactive in Week 7, so Emory Jones replaced Ioane against the Bengals. The Ravens will likely have to turn to one of those players against the Bills in Week 8.

As the Ravens turn the page to their Week 8 matchup against the Bills, it’s unclear whether or not their starting quarterback will be back.

Lamar Jackson appeared to be on track to play in yesterday’s game against the Bengals until he wasn’t, with the team downgrading him to out on Saturday — even though the Ravens were playing at home.

Will he return from his high-ankle sprain against the Bills?

“Yeah, I think, again, Lamar is working his butt off to be back and be out there,” head coach Jesse Minter said in his Monday press conference. “I think he was able to get in a little bit of work, obviously, toward the end of last week.

“So, I think he’ll be in a decent spot. But we’ll know a lot more on Wednesday.”

While there was some reporting that the Ravens were “shocked” when Jackson was not ready to play on Saturday, Minter said that was “a little bit” of a mischaracterization of the situation.

“But, again, we kind of had Saturday that we would… got a little bit of work in on Friday, come in Saturday and feel it out and see where it’s at and see how it’s going, how it’s feeling, how it responded,” Minter said. “And then what happened, happened.

“I’m not going to speak, really, on the details of anybody’s injury,” Minter added. “So, look, if he’s able to play — that’s healthy enough to play, and play the way that obviously we feel like he needs to play — then he will play.”

With Baltimore blowing double-digit leads to divisional opponents in each of the last two weeks, the club could certainly use the boost from a healthy Jackson returning.

After three limited practices last week, we’ll see if Jackson is on the field and able to participate in full starting with Wednesday’s injury report.

The Ravens are signing veteran safety Rayshawn Jenkins to the practice squad, coach Jesse Minter announced.

The Steelers cut Jenkins on Oct. 21.

Jenkins, 32, signed with the Steelers as a free agent in the offseason. He appeared in the first six games and made one start during his brief time with the Steelers.

He made 16 tackles while playing 126 defensive snaps and 62 on special teams.

Jenkins has also played for the Browns, Seahawks, Jaguars and Chargers.

The 10-year veteran has appeared in 145 games and started 93.

The Ravens had a choke of epic proportions on Sunday.

Winning 13-0 at halftime, Baltimore ended up losing to Cincinnati, 35-13. The Bengals’ win was the first time since 1950 that an NFL team has won a game by 20 or more points after trailing by 13 or more points at halftime.

It’s hard to describe just how much the Bengals dominated the second half. The first 10 possessions of the second half went like this: Bengals touchdown, Ravens punt, Bengals touchdown, Ravens turnover on downs, Bengals touchdown, Ravens punt, Bengals touchdown, Ravens interception, Bengals touchdown, Ravens turnover on downs.

The Ravens’ loss was their second consecutive ugly second half: A week earlier, Baltimore was beating Cleveland 10-0 at halftime but ended up losing 13-10. Over the last two weeks, the Ravens have been outscored 48-0 in the second half.

Whatever the Ravens are doing at halftime, it’s not working, and it needs to get fixed ahead of this Sunday’s game at Buffalo.

There’s no uncertainty as to whether the Ravens need quarterback Lamar Jackson. There’s plenty of uncertainty as to when he’ll be able to play.

With him, they’re 3-1. Without him, they’re 1-2. With losses to the Browns and Bengals in the past eight days, the Ravens have started 0-2 in the AFC North for the first time since 2007.

Jackson made it clear on Friday that he’s dealing with a high-ankle sprain, suffered in Week 4 against the Titans. He said at the time, as to the possibility of playing on Sunday against Cincinnati, “Right now, I’m heading in the right direction.”

One day later, the Ravens downgraded Jackson from questionable to out.

With a Sunday trip to Buffalo coming, followed by a short-week visit from the Jaguars, Jackson’s return becomes critical. Absent Jackson, Baltimore’s 4-3 record could sink to 4-5 by next Friday.

So the question of the week in Baltimore becomes whether Jackson will play against Josh Allen and the Bills. As mentioned on Sunday’s Football Night in America, it’s unknown within the building whether he’ll be able to return on Sunday — and any effort to predict when he’ll be able to play is a guess.

Jackson made it clear during his Friday press conference that it’s an issue of pain tolerance, and that the ankle sprain is keeping him from being as mobile as he needs to be. That’s no surprise. A high-ankle sprain takes more time to heal than other types of sprains. He explained that he doesn’t want to play if doing so would potentially hurt the team.

The challenge this week for the Ravens will be to get the eventual starter ready for the game. If Jackson is listed as a “full” participant on Wednesday, Thursday, and/or Friday, it will mean he has taken 100 percent of his normal first-team reps. Which also will mean that, if he doesn’t play, backup Tyler Huntley won’t be getting the first-team reps in preparation for Buffalo.

With or without Jackson, the next two games become critical to Baltimore’s season. Win both, and they’re right on track for reaching their goal. Lose both, and it could be another season without a ticket to the postseason party.

The chances of going 2-0, and not 0-2, will be much greater if Jackson is able to play. It’s something that we’ll find out as the current week unfolds.

The AFC North and NFC North are loaded, to an unprecedented extent in NFL history.

All eight teams in the two North divisions are above .500 after Week 7. Never before has the league had two divisions with every team having a winning record heading into Week 8.

The Browns lead the AFC North at 5-2 because they have the head-to-head tiebreaker with the 5-2 Steelers. The Bengals are 4-2 and the Ravens are 4-3.

The Vikings are 6-0, the only remaining undefeated team in the NFC. The Bears are in second place in the NFC North at 5-2, followed by the Lions at 4-2 and the Packers at 4-3.

If the playoffs started today, the Browns would be the No. 3 seed in the AFC. The Steelers would be the No. 6 seed and the Bengals would be the No. 7 seed. The Ravens would be out of the playoffs.

In the NFC, the Vikings would be the No. 1 seed and the three other teams would be the three wild cards: The Bears would be the No. 5 seed, the Lions would be No. 6 and the Packers would be No. 7 — as they have been each of the last three years.

We’re a long way from the playoffs, but right now, it looks like most of the biggest games down the stretch will be played in the North.

The Ravens were in complete control for the first half of Sunday’s divisional matchup with the Bengals.

But Cincinnati flipped the script for the game’s final 30 minutes, scoring touchdowns on five consecutive possessions to defeat Baltimore, 35-13.

The Bengals did next to nothing on offense for the first half of the contest, with Baltimore dominating time of possession 22:20 to 7:40. Joe Burrow was just 6-of-12 passing for 43 yards and Tee Higgins did not have a catch over the first 30 minutes.

But everything changed in the third quarter, as Burrow got things going with a 6-yard touchdown to Mike Gesicki. Then he tossed a 13-yard touchdown to Higgins, giving Cincinnati a 14-13 lead.

It didn’t stop there, as Samaje Perine’s 1-yard touchdown increased the lead after a turnover on downs. Ja’Marr Chase got in the action with a 2-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. And Burrow tossed his fourth score after the defense picked off Tyler Huntley, firing a 16-yard TD to Drew Sample.

Burrow finished 22-of-30 for 292 yards with four touchdowns, exiting the game with just under five minutes left in the fourth quarter with the outcome all but official. Joe Flacco came in for mop-up work against his former team.

Higgins caught six passes for 148 yards with a TD. Chase had five receptions for 62 yards with a score.

While the Ravens were 8-of-11 on third down in the first half, they didn’t convert one again until there was just over a minute left in the game — finishing 9-of-16 in the category.

On the injury front, Bengals tight end Erick All (knee) and safety Kyle Dugger (quad) were both ruled out. Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith had to exit early in the fourth quarter with a knee issue.

Now at 4-2, the Bengals will face the Titans at home next weekend.

The 4-3 Ravens will be on the road to face the Bills in Week 8.

Though the Bengals were thoroughly dominated in the first 30 minutes of Sunday’s matchup with the Ravens, they were down just 13-0 at halftime.

They’ve come back to take the lead with just two possessions in the third quarter.

Joe Burrow finished Cincinnati’s first drive of the second half with a 6-yard touchdown to Mike Gesicki. Then after a Baltimore three-and-out, Burrow connected with Tee Higgins for a 13-yard touchdown to make the score 14-13 with 4:29 left in the third quarter.

Burrow was just 6-of-12 for 43 yards at halftime. He’s now 15-of-22 for 143 yards with two TDs.

Higgins, who did not have a catch in the first half, now has four receptions for 61 yards with a score.

On the injury front, Ravens ight guard Vega Ioane has been downgraded to out with a knee injury.

Though Lamar Jackson is missing his third consecutive game with a high-ankle sprain, the Ravens’ offense has been plenty effective. But scoring field goals instead of touchdowns has kept the Bengals within striking distance.

The Ravens have a 13-0 lead at halftime.

Baltimore has been able to control the ball and the clock with long drives. The team scored quickly to open the game, with Zay Flowers taking a screen 48 yards for a touchdown. Then Tyler Loop hit a 34-yard field goal to cap an 18-play, 78-yard possession that took 11:00 off the clock in the second quarter.

Another 13-play, 82-yard drive took 6:09 off the clock and finished with a Loop 24-yard field goal late in the second period. The Ravens had a shot to extend that lead, but Ja’Kobi Lane couldn’t haul in a Tyler Huntley pass in the end zone on third down.

Huntley is 15-of-21 for 215 yards with a TD so far. Flowers has been particularly effective, catching six passes for 120 yards.

The run game has not gotten going much, however, with Derrick Henry registering 32 yards on 13 carries.

Baltimore leads in time of possession 22:20 to 7:40.

Cincinnati’s offense had just three first downs, 59 total yards, and was 2-of-6 on third down in the first half. Baltimore had 12 first downs, 258 yards, and was 8-of-11 on third down.

With so few plays, the Bengals have paltry offensive numbers. Joe Burrow, who has been heavily pressured, is 6-of-12 for 43 yards. Ja’Marr Chase has two catches for 23 yards. Tee Higgins doesn’t have a catch on one target.

Ravens right guard Vega Ioane is questionable to return with a knee injury. Emery Jones Jr. came in to replace him at the position.

The Bengals will receive the second-half kickoff.