Jesse Minter's update on Lamar Jackson on Monday sounded a lot like the one he gave last week, and the week before that.
The Ravens' first-year head coach again described his quarterback as "day-to-day" with the ankle sprain Jackson suffered late in the first half of Baltimore's Oct. 4 win over the Tennessee Titans, leaving his availability for Sunday's AFC North home game against the Cincinnati Bengals unresolved. Jackson has now missed two straight starts, and Wednesday's return to the practice field is shaping up as the first real indicator of whether he'll be under center at M&T Bank Stadium.
"I'd still put it in kind of the day-to-day thing," Minter said. "We'll know a lot more on Wednesday, I would say."
Asked whether he expects Jackson to practice this week, Minter didn't commit either way.
"Potentially, but we'll see how it goes," he said.
A 'Day-to-Day' Label That Keeps Getting Renewed
The phrasing is what has drawn attention. A day-to-day designation usually implies an absence measured in days, not a third straight week of uncertainty. Jackson hasn't taken part in practice in any meaningful way since the injury, and he did not practice at all last week before Tyler Huntley made his second consecutive start.
Minter, who has been willing to sound openly optimistic about other injured players this season, kept his answer to one word when asked whether Jackson has made progress over the past couple of weeks.
"Yes," he said, and left it there.
The Ravens have gone 1-1 without him. Huntley led a 30-23 overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 5, then Baltimore's offense stalled for most of Sunday's 13-10 loss in Cleveland after a strong opening two drives. The defeat dropped the Ravens to 4-2, with the Bengals (3-2) arriving fresh off their bye and a 31-24 win in Miami.
Shades of 2022
For longtime Ravens fans, the slow drip of non-updates carries a familiar feel.
In Week 13 of the 2022 season, Jackson sprained the PCL in his left knee in the first quarter of a Dec. 4 win over the Denver Broncos. Then-head coach John Harbaugh said afterward the injury was not season-ending and that Jackson would be out "days to weeks," and early reporting pegged the typical recovery window for that injury at one to three weeks.
Jackson never played again that season. He missed the final five regular-season games, and his status for the wild-card round stayed in limbo until the end. Baltimore lost that playoff game 24-17 — in Cincinnati, to the Bengals. Jackson later said publicly that the sprain was Grade 2 and bordering on Grade 3, and Harbaugh's updates shifted from hopeful to noncommittal as the weeks passed.
That injury also came during a season Jackson played without a long-term deal, the final year of his rookie contract. The Ravens placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on him the following March, Jackson requested a trade, and the two sides didn't land his current five-year, $260 million extension until April 2023.
The contract backdrop this fall rhymes with that one. Jackson's deal runs through the 2027 season, but the Ravens tried and failed to complete an extension this offseason, restructured his contract instead to lower his 2026 cap hit, and reports in September indicated talks were likely on hold until next year. Jackson, who represents himself, has said he wants to keep negotiations private while reiterating that he wants to stay in Baltimore.
None of that means this ankle will follow the same path as that knee. It does mean the gap between the "day-to-day" label and the calendar is starting to draw the same kind of scrutiny.
What Wednesday Means
Wednesday is the first practice of Bengals week, and Jackson's participation level — full, limited or absent — will say more than any press conference answer has. If he can't get on the field midweek, Huntley would be in line for a third consecutive start against a Cincinnati team the Ravens shut out 24-0 in their last meeting, on Dec. 14, 2025.
Sportsbooks have Baltimore favored by 3 1/2 points, which suggests the market still expects Jackson to play.
Notes From Minter's Monday Press Conference
Cam Jurgens could finally make his Ravens debut. The center, acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 7, has missed both games since the trade while in the concussion protocol. Minter sounded encouraged. "We feel that it's come a long way over the weekend and that there's a real opportunity for [Cam Jurgens]," he said. "The final deal may be today or tomorrow as we go. We're excited to potentially get him in there this week." If Jurgens is cleared, rookie Vega Ioane — who has started the last three games at center — can slide back to his natural right guard spot, where he opened the season on the Week 1 depth chart.
Ja'Kobi Lane looked like himself in his return. The rookie receiver, who fractured his wrist in the opener, was back on the field in Cleveland. "I thought Ja'Kobi [Lane] did some really nice things," Minter said. "I think there's parts of the game where [you can see] it's his second game, and it shows that it's his second game. Then you see what also created a lot of the energy and excitement around Ja'Kobi for how he did in training camp with his ability to pluck the ball out of the air and make tough catches and be a really physical receiver and use his body really well." Minter added that he expects "some major jumps" once Lane gets into a rhythm.
Minter on what went wrong. His opening statement focused less on the final drive and more on the chances Baltimore let slip between halftime and the fourth quarter. "It's always easy to look back at one play and say that that's the difference," he said. "I think that to me, when I look at it, there's so many plays between halftime and in the fourth quarter where we have a chance to create momentum, create a bigger lead, create momentum on special teams or defense, that we really weren't able to take advantage of." His summary: "So, it's on us. We'll own it, [and] we'll learn from it."
Cleveland took Derrick Henry away. Minter credited the Browns for attacking the Ravens' wide-zone run game with downhill linebackers and playing aggressive man coverage on the outside. "Overall, I just felt like they got pretty aggressive to take Derrick [Henry] and the running game away," he said. "We weren't able to find enough answers to create some more momentum after starting the game off well in the first two drives." On the offensive line, he said the group was "good at times" but got beaten off the ball or to the spot too often, adding that the coaches are "definitely chasing continued improvement up front."
Huntley's delay-of-game penalties were operational. Minter attributed them to late play-clock situations and players lining up on the wrong side of formations before correcting. He said he considered calling a timeout on one, but chose to save it given how valuable second-half timeouts are.
Tyler Loop's miss was "critical," and the Ravens aren't ruling out competition. Loop pushed a 49-yard attempt with Baltimore up 10-3 early in the fourth quarter, a kick that would have made it a two-score game. Loop is 10-for-13 on field goals this season, including a walk-off 56-yarder to beat Dallas in Rio de Janeiro in Week 3, but Minter was blunt about the position. "That position itself is completely results-driven," he said. "You could argue that second-half missed field goals are no different than turning the ball over in those situations." Asked whether the team would bring in another kicker, he said, "you're always looking at ways of how to impact the roster, how to impact improvement. So, that one would be no different." The Ravens previously added Jake Moody late in the preseason after Loop's struggles.
Special teams compounded the problem. After a Ravens fumble at 10-3 led to Cleveland's tying touchdown, Rasheen Ali muffed the ensuing kickoff, and on the final possession Ryan Eckley's punt sailed into the end zone instead of pinning the Browns deep. "It's just about not trying to do more than who you are," Minter said.
No regrets on punting late. Minter said he never seriously considered going for it on fourth down around the two-minute mark of a 10-10 game before taking a delay of game and punting. "In a 10-10 game with the struggles our offense had had – to give them the ball on their side of the field in a tie game, I didn't think that would be very smart," he said. Cleveland drove for the winning field goal anyway, aided by a 33-yard completion from Deshaun Watson to Jerry Jeudy on third-and-5. Minter declined to detail the coverage breakdown on that play, saying he'd "keep that between the players and the guys in this building."
The third quarter is where it slipped. Minter said the defense missed chances to get off the field on third down early in the second half, which let the Browns stay balanced. "If you can get that to 13-0 or to a 14-0 or to a 17-0, I think their offensive style has to really change," he said. "We were never able to separate like that."
Trey Hendrickson came out OK. The edge rusher returned from a two-game absence with a finger injury and generated eight pressures and a sack. "I feel pretty good about how [Trey Hendrickson] got out of the game," Minter said. "From a rush-coverage standpoint, I thought our pass rush took a good step in the right direction for us going forward." Minter also acknowledged the staff is working on ways to keep Mike Green productive now that Hendrickson, a natural right-side rusher, is back on Green's preferred side.
Rashod Bateman is expected to be fine. The receiver left Sunday's game in the second quarter with a shoulder issue he'd been managing coming in. "I think there's a little bit of optimism that he should be OK," Minter said.
Keyon Martin is back in the dime package. Minter reinserted the second-year defensive back after he lost snaps to rookie Chandler Rivers following Week 1, crediting Martin for how he practiced in the interim. "I thought he played really well," Minter said. On the pass interference flag against Martin, he shrugged it off: "PIs are subjective. They are bang-bang plays."
Fourth-quarter pass defense remains a work in progress. Asked about the yardage Baltimore has allowed late in games, Minter said the secondary needs to find "a level of confidence, conviction and aggressiveness," calling it "an ongoing search."
The schedule stiffens. Minter brushed off the idea that the next six weeks look tougher than the first six on paper, sticking to his week-to-week, "us versus us" message. "It's a division opponent with a bunch of really good players that we have coming in this week," he said, "and it's going to take, for us, a great week of preparation, fixing our mistakes, not letting the loss linger."
Kickoff Information
Matchup: Cincinnati Bengals (3-2) at Baltimore Ravens (4-2)
When: Sunday, Oct. 25, 1:00 p.m. ET
Where: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore
TV: CBS
Line: Ravens -3 1/2