The refocused Baltimore Ravens got back in the win column on Sunday, as they snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating the Chicago Bears, 30-16. One major difference for the Ravens this past week is that they took the fun out of their locker room, removing the basketball hoop, ping pong table and video game consoles.
Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey revealed that star quarterback Lamar Jackson was the one who made the call to take the toys out of the locker room following the team’s 1-5 start. Even though Jackson was sidelined with a hamstring injury, he wanted his teammates to focus on the task at hand. Jackson confirmed this while speaking with reporters on Tuesday.
“I told Kenico, our head equipment guy, I told him to take all the games and ping pong … turn the TVs off. If we could have taken the TVs out they’d have been out too,” Jackson said. “I appreciate [team owner] Steve [Bisciotti] for putting that in for us but we had to focus. I don’t want to say people don’t take their jobs seriously, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t feel like it was the time for that. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
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Jackson’s strategy worked, as his Ravens outplayed the Bears in every facet of the game with Tyler Huntley at quarterback and put up 30 points for the first time since Week 3. Just because Baltimore won on Sunday doesn’t mean the Ravens will get their toys back. Jackson said they won’t have games in the locker room for the rest of the year.
The Ravens have a chance to build on their new momentum this Thursday night, when they travel to South Beach to take on the Miami Dolphins. Jackson is expected to return to the lineup for the first time since Sept. 28, and he said he’s “extremely excited” to be back.
Despite being 2-5 and currently in third place in the AFC North behind the 4-3 Pittsburgh Steelers and 3-5 Cincinnati Bengals, FanDuel Sportsbook actually has the Ravens favored to rebound and win the division (-110).
This season certainly hasn’t gone according to plan, but with Jackson back under center, the Ravens are prepared to make a major push.
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