With Lamar Jackson ruled out, the unknown Anthony Brown–Tyler Huntley Baltimore Ravens gunslinger situation isn’t expected to receive much clarity prior to Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
How do we know this? Tickle me glad you asked, as famed ESPN reporter Adam Schefter reported on such a matter this morning.
Ravens are not expected to an announce their starting QB Sunday vs. the Bengals until pregame warmups. Lamar Jackson is out, QB Tyler Huntley is listed as questionable due to shoulder and wrist injuries, and Anthony Brown took first team reps in practice this week.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 8, 2023
Anthony Brown–Tyler Huntley Ravens Fallout
With Lamar Jackson missing his 14th straight practice, Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman put some of the situation into context.
“Anytime your quarterback can’t practice, that’s a tough situation,” Roman said. “It is what it is, it’s the NFL in January, you’ve got to adapt, you’ve got to overcome that. He’s working hard. He’s doing rehab like crazy. He’s been dealing with this thing for weeks, fighting through it. It’s changed the way we’ve had to play some of these games a little bit. We know when he’s at full strength we have a dynamic player for us. We just want to get him back there.”
On Thursday, only Anthony Brown and Brett Hundley (remember him?) shared reps. The latter of the two is not expected to be in the mix against the Bengals, for whatever that’s worth.
Brown actually saw some action due to Hundley this season. When Hundley got hurt in Week 14, the former Oregon Ducks talent played relatively well, even leading an important drive that resulted in a game-winning field goal. We’ll touch on this more in a second, but the world “relatively” is doing a lot of heavy lifting within this space.
“I have a lot of confidence in him,” Roman said of Anthony Brown. “I think he’s got a bright future. You never know until they get out there and do it the first time. But that’s ok. That’s part of the excitement. But I thought how he comported himself in Pittsburgh, on the road, coming in that game and leading us to victory there was pretty darn impressive.”
What does this mean for bettors? While Ravens fans might be fine with punting until the postseason, according to our OddsShopper tool and data, the Bengals are heavily favorited in a variety of different traditional and prop bets for Sunday. For those wanting to risk it all on Baltimore, placing any wagers has compounding issues now that we won’t know who of Anthony Brown and Tyler Huntley will start.
This game might be worth taking a small risk with, but proceeding with extreme caution — or avoiding it outright — might be everyone’s best bet. After all, Anthony Brown has a grand total of five pass attempts in his NFL career. He’s also current averaging negative yards on the ground. Still, crazier things have happened.
