The most interesting development in Sunday’s 31-30 loss wasn’t another unsuccessful 2-point conversion try or the decimated Ravens again showing their resolve pushing NFC-leading and heavily favored Green Bay to the brink.
It was what had to be going through the mind of an injured Lamar Jackson on the sideline as he watched backup Tyler Huntley go toe to toe with future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers — albeit with a different style — and finish with four touchdowns in his second career start.
To be clear, we’re not going to be victims of recency bias and suggest any semblance of a quarterback controversy in this space. It would be disrespectful to the 24-year-old superstar who is two years removed from being the unanimous league MVP and has contributed more than anyone to the Ravens’ 39-14 regular-season record since he became the starter midway through the 2018 season. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t acknowledge Huntley has outplayed the Jackson we’ve watched in recent weeks, a slumping quarterback who’s thrown eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions with a 73.5 passer rating over his last seven games.
Despite playing behind an offensive line even more banged up than usual, getting play calls from the same offensive coordinator who’s a popular target for criticism, and facing a Packers defense ranked in the top 10 in several prominent statistical categories, Huntley led the Ravens to their first 30-point outing since the Week 9 comeback win over Minnesota and easily their best first quarter since the Week 6 blowout victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. Per the Ravens, he’s the first quarterback in NFL history to register at least 200 passing yards, complete at least 70% of his passes, and rush for at least 40 yards in each of his first two career starts, the kind of arbitrary but fun factoid often attached to Jackson and his unique skill set.
“He’s a special player. I think everybody who was on that field feels a connection with him,” said tight end Mark Andrews, who caught both of Huntley’s touchdown passes in the first half. “He puts the ball where it needs to be. His eyes are great. I think that obviously being behind a guy like Lamar, you learn a ton, and he’s been able to absorb all these different things. I think he’s going to be a superstar in this league for a long, long time.”
While Huntley wasn’t perfect — not seeing an open Marquise Brown on the final 2-point try, for example — and rarely pushed the ball downfield at just 5.4 yards per pass attempt, he eliminated the turnovers that hurt him in previous outings, got rid of the ball quickly, and played with a confidence reminding you of Jackson before his recent slump and subsequent right ankle injury. For what it’s worth, the 2020 undrafted free agent out of Utah finished with a QBR of 56.2 at Cleveland and 82.4 against the Packers, single-game marks better than anything Jackson has posted since his all-universe second half against Indianapolis in Week 5.
It would be fair to view Huntley’s performance as some sort of a wake-up call for Baltimore’s starting quarterback. At the risk of angering the social media mob that hates nuance, we can admit Jackson’s recent play has fallen somewhere in that chasm between “hE’s A rUnNing bAck!” and “he’s a blameless victim of the worst coaching staff and supporting cast in the history of football!” over these last two months. Even if you weren’t quite convinced after the more up-and-down performances against Chicago and Cleveland, Huntley proved Sunday that enough components remain for this offense to score more points than it has recently and give the Ravens a chance to make the playoffs despite a three-game losing streak.
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But they’ll need a much better version of Jackson when he returns to the field. Of course, it’s a moot point until he’s healthy again, and head coach John Harbaugh wouldn’t get into how close Jackson may have been to playing against the Packers after missing the entire week of practice.
“I don’t have that measurement stick, so you’d have to talk to the trainer because I don’t really ask that question,” Harbaugh said. “It’s just whether he’s ready or not — that’s the question I ask. We’ll anticipate him being back next week [against Cincinnati], but if he’s not able to be fully ready, then we’ll go with Tyler. We’ll be ready to go either way.”
The word “fully” reflects the way Huntley has played and gives the Ravens the wiggle room to not push their starter back onto the field until his ankle is at least close to 100%, but Jackson has to be feeling more urgency than ever to get back out there. How could he not with his performance coming under scrutiny in a way it hasn’t since some were clamoring for Joe Flacco to replace him during that ugly playoff loss to end his rookie season?
Again, there’s no quarterback controversy — seriously, people, we’re talking about Lamar Jackson here — but he has to be feeling some heat internally watching his understudy lead Baltimore to its best offensive performance in six weeks with the same set of challenging variables we’ve acknowledged all season.
Whenever Jackson returns, the Ravens need their biggest star to start playing like one again. Otherwise, the season will promptly end and the temperature of that scrutiny will only rise this winter.
