Less than 24 hours after the entire city of Baltimore held its breath when Lamar Jackson missed Thursday’s practice entirely, the Ravens superstar sent the fanbase into a frenzy: he showed up to Friday’s session with his left ankle heavily taped, dropping dimes, scrambling, and moving like the injury was nothing more than an annoyance. Classic “injured Lamar is still scarier than 90% of healthy QBs” energy.
As soon as practice ended, Jackson dropped a stone-cold quote that instantly went viral across social media:
“Yeah it hurts, but letting the Steelers laugh in our face again hurts a hundred times worse. I came back today just to make sure Sunday they’re the ones swallowing that pain.”
That wasn’t just trash talk; it was a declaration of war rooted in bad blood. The Steelers swept the Ravens in 2023, then edged them 18-16 earlier this season on a last-second red-zone stop. This week, with home-field advantage and the tiebreaker on the line, Baltimore knows one more slip-up could force them to win at Acrisure Stadium in Week 18, a nightmare scenario no one in Charm City wants to relive for the third straight year.
Eyewitnesses at practice watched Jackson, ankle wrapped like a mummy, still rifle 40- and 50-yard lasers and burn the defense on at least three scramble drills that left DBs grasping at air. One anonymous teammate said: “He didn’t say much, but every cut he made screamed ‘don’t play with me.’ Whole team saw it and knew the Steelers are done Sunday.”
Even the usually cautious John Harbaugh couldn’t hide his excitement:
“Lamar begged. He told me: ‘Coach, I’m going out there no matter what. This game isn’t just about the win or loss, it’s about honor. I’m not letting them have that pleasure.’ You can’t measure Lamar in percentages. He’s out here, he’s smiling, he’s throwing bullets that could tear the net—that’s all we need.”
With Derrick Henry terrorizing defenses (1,387 rushing yards through 12 games), the Ravens’ offense now has its thunder-and-lightning duo back at full power. The Steelers, owners of the NFL’s No. 1 scoring defense (16.8 points allowed per game), are about to face a nightmare: stop Henry AND chase a vengeance-fueled Lamar Jackson.
Only 48 hours remain until M&T Bank Stadium erupts.
Lamar is back.
The AFC North grudge is about to be settled.
And as Jackson himself put it: this time, only one team is swallowing the pain.
