We Speak NFL
Lamar Jackson Expected to Return for Ravens’ Showdown With Bills
The Baltimore Ravens are on track to get their franchise quarterback back for one of the biggest games on the Week 8 schedule.
Lamar Jackson is expected to play Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday. Jackson has been sidelined since injuring his ankle in Week 4, a high-ankle sprain suffered on Oct. 4 that forced him to miss multiple games in October.
Jackson addressed his recovery this week for the first time since the injury, describing the sprain as a “very, very, very, very, very painful” one, per ESPN. He is officially listed as questionable, but the expectation inside the week is that he will be under center when the Ravens travel to Buffalo.
Baltimore has felt his absence. The Ravens (4-3) have dropped two straight, including a 35-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 25, and backup Tyler Huntley has started in Jackson’s place during the skid. Baltimore currently sits ninth in the AFC, outside the early playoff picture, a position that makes every conference game from here forward carry extra weight.
Jackson’s return changes the math for the entire offense. Wide receiver Zay Flowers, who has been among the league’s most efficient receivers this season, gets his quarterback back, and a rushing attack that has leaned on contingency plans gets its most dangerous runner restored to the lineup.
The Bills, coming off their bye, present a difficult first test back. But for a Ravens team that has watched its margin for error shrink over the last two weeks, simply having No. 8 back on the field is the biggest development of their season so far.
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The Pittsburgh Steelers have spent the last month winning games with an incomplete roster. The cavalry is finally in sight.
Wide receiver Roman Wilson and defensive tackle Derrick Harmon are nearing the end of their required four-game stays on injured reserve, and Pittsburgh’s upcoming bye week falls at the perfect time to welcome them back. The Steelers play once more in Week 8 before the bye gives their returning players an extra week to get ready.
Pittsburgh has weathered the absences well, beating the teams it was supposed to beat, including the New Orleans Saints 16-10 in the NFL’s first game in Paris. But the holes have been real. At receiver, the Steelers lost Michael Pittman Jr. to injured reserve in Week 5 after he aggravated a foot injury, and Wilson went down with a finger injury in the second half of that same week and landed on IR as well. Rookie Germie Bernard has been asked to carry a bigger role behind DK Metcalf ever since.
Not every return is on schedule. Reports indicate there is a chance Pittman misses the rest of the season, and defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day’s return timeline remains unknown. But Wilson and Harmon would restore two rotation pieces at positions where Pittsburgh has been stretching its depth for a month.
Head coach Mike McCarthy likes where his roster stands as the reinforcements approach.
“We’ve got the right guys,” McCarthy said during his weekly press conference. “We’ve got a really great mix of veterans and young guys, and you’re just seeing it come together.”
The Steelers built their record without some of their best young players. If Wilson and Harmon come off the bye at full strength, the team that takes the field for the second half of the season will be deeper than the one that survived the first half.
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