Filling in for Lamar Jackson is a tall order, and for veteran quarterback Cooper Rush, it has been a baptism of fire being the Baltimore Ravens' starting quarterback over the past two and a half weeks.
After coming into the Kansas City Chiefs game in the fourth quarter, Rush has had two starts, and it hasn't been very good.
In total, Cooper has thrown for 251 yards, no touchdowns, and four interceptions as the offense struggled to function. Yes, Derrick Henry rushed for 122 yards in the 17-3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, but such was Cooper's poor play that he was benched for Tyler Huntley.
And offensive coordinator Todd Monken has detailed why Rush has struggled this season.
“We'll start with me,” Monken said. “We got to do it better for him. There's a lot of that we can do better offensively for him. We did a better job in the game the other day. What I was excited about is we needed to be able to run the football. We did run the football, and that's a starting point, whoever your quarterback is, if you can run the football, you're going to be an advantageous down at distances, and we got to do it better for him. We can certainly play better around him.”
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It won't be Rush or Huntley in Week 8 against the Chicago Bears; it will hopefully be Lamar Jackson, and right now, that is the only positive that the organization has to cling to.
Sitting at 1-5, the season, for all intents and purposes, could be seen as over, but with Lamar and his ability to transform this offense into one of the best in football, that is the only arrow in Baltimore's quiver.
And it's one that can't be wasted.
How many wins will the Ravens need to secure playoff football? 10? 11? That means winning nearly all of their remaining games, and that means the margin for error is nearly zero.
If Jackson thought he would get a soft landing upon his return, he's about to get a shock, because Baltimore needs MVP Lamar to get them out of this hole.
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