Sportsnaut
The 1-3 Baltimore Ravens appear to be going into their must-win Week 5 home matchup against the Houston Texans extremely depleted as a team insider warns the franchise is entering “code red territory.”
Seven players — five Pro Bowlers — aren’t practicing Friday, including quarterback Lamar Jackson (hamstring) and safety Kyle Hamilton (groin), making their availability for Sunday highly unlikely.
Lamar Jackson is one of 7 Ravens not practicing Friday:
S Kyle Hamilton (groin)
LB Roquan Smith (hamstring)
CB Marlon Humphrey (calf)
CB Chidobe Awuzie (hamstring)
FB Patrick Ricard (calf)
LB Odafe Oweh (eye)So, that’s 5 Pro Bowl players from last year and a 10-sack LB (Oweh).
— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) October 3, 2025
The Ravens have struggled on the young season, with all their losses coming to three playoff teams from 2024 — the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs. Even though Baltimore’s offense ranks third in the NFL, averaging 32.8 points per game, it has lacked explosive plays, turned the ball over four times and sits near the bottom in first- and second-down rush attempts despite having Derrick Henry.
Defensively, the Ravens surprisingly have one of the worst units in the league. They’re allowing 406.8 yards and 33.3 points per game — ranking 31st and last out of 32 teams, respectively.
In an interview with Sportsnaut’s Evan Groat, 105.7 The Fan Ravens reporter Cordell Woodland called Baltimore’s upcoming game with the Texans “must-win.”
“I don’t think it’s the endgame type of must-win. I don’t think their season’s over if they lose this game. But no doubt this is a proud team, a team with high expectations, and they’re not happy with the way the season has gone to this point,” said Woodland. “I think just for morale, just to kind of silence some of the noise surrounding this team in general, you want to win this game.”
Woodland added: “But I would imagine that we are starting to get to that code red territory. Going into the bye week at Week 7 at 1-5, big-time questions are going to be asked.”
If Jackson, a two-time NFL MVP, is unable to go Sunday, veteran backup Cooper Rush will start. Jackson left the game in the third quarter of the Ravens’ Week 4 loss against the Chiefs with the hamstring injury, and Rush finished the game, completing 9 of 13 passes for 52 yards.
Rush started eight games in 2024 for the Dallas Cowboys when Dak Prescott was sidelined, posting a 4-4 record. He completed 60.7% of his passes for 1,844 yards, 12 touchdowns and five interceptions and was sacked 13 times. Overall, as a starter, Rush is 9-5.
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