Lamar Jackson Requested Removal of Ravens' Locker Room Distractions

While the Baltimore Ravens finally snapped their losing streak in Week 8 with a commanding win over the red-hot Chicago Bears, they've been dialed in and focused on righting the ship after a poor start to the 2025 regular season for weeks.

The locker room has been all about the business of getting better, which led to the removal of such distractions as the basketball hoops and ping-pong table that head coach John Harbaugh gifted them last year. Although they were taken out a while ago, news of their removal didn't make national headlines until it was reported that the coaching staff was behind it during their Week 7 bye.

Last week, Harbaugh refuted those false reports and revealed that the decision was made by the leadership among the players. In his first time addressing the media since before he suffered the hamstring injury that caused him to miss the team's last three games, All Pro quarterback Lamar Jackson provided further insight on the situation and took responsibility for the removal of the non-football-related distractions.

"I told Kenico [Hines], our head equipment guy, I told him to take out all the games, ping-pong [and] turn the T.V.s off," Jackson said Tuesday. "If we could've took the T.V.s off, they would've been out too but I appreciate Mr. Steve [Bisciotti] for putting that in there for us but yeah, we had to focus."

The franchise signal-caller didn't want to insinuate that any of his teammates weren't taking their jobs and livelihood seriously but rather he didn't believe it was time for fun and games while they were losing games and struggling to find a way to win on the field.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) stiff arms Miami Dolphins outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips (15) in 2021. — Nov 11, 2021; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) stiff arms Miami Dolphins outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips (15) during the second half at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images | Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

"We got a lot of work to do," Jackson added.

When asked a follow up question about what it would take in order for the recreational activities to be brought back in and the televisions turned back on, he plainly responded: "keep winning" and went on to shared that equipment's return wouldn't occur until after the season, whenever it ends.

"We'll probably have them next year [in the] summer time, [organized team activities ] or something like that," Jackson said. "Right now that's not the focus."

Although the removal of recreational equipment may not seem like a big deal on the surface, the sentiments behind it run much deeper. It was a display of stalwart leadership needed for a team whose season was seemingly circling the drain a week ago to galvanize around and get back on track.

Jackson doesn't foresee any rust in long-awaited return

The Ravens don't have to wait long for the opportunity to establish their first win streak of the season, as they'll be opening Week 9 on the road with a primetime matchup with the Miami Dolphins on Thursday Night Football.

After practicing fully for the second day in a row, the two-time league MVP is slated to be back in the lineup for the first time since Week 4, when he injured his hamstring in a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and had to leave the game late in the third quarter. He told reporters that he feels "ready to go right now" when asked if he believes he is at 100% capacity and doesn't think he'll be rusty when he takes the field for the first time in 32 days, come kickoff time on Thursday.

"That's what practice is for," Jackson said. "I was practicing with my guys today and felt like we had a great day today and got to execute tomorrow and come Thursday night, just fly."

This upcoming matchup will be the four-time Pro Bowler's fifth career matchup against the Dolphins, against who has he has some of his most prolific performances against. However, nothing that happened in the past matters now as the Ravens are in playoff mode from here on out.

"Coached pretty much touched on that [and] talking about that in the team meeting," Jackson said. "Each and every game is going to be like a win or go home game... First season ever starting off like this slow so we're gonna have to, it's do or die right now each and every week."

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