NFL Week 11 QB Power Rankings: Why the Ravens need to turn to rookie Lamar Jackson over Joe Flacco

It is crossroads time in Baltimore, with the Ravens sitting at 4-5, set to play a run of potential playoff teams with questionable defenses, and badly needing a win against the Bengals on Sunday to get back to .500 and try and save people's jobs/just make the playoffs.

Which means it's Lamar Jackson time.

Joe Flacco is hurt -- he's battling a hip injury that could result in him just being questionable or missing up to a couple of weeks -- and Jackson is a first-round pick chosen to kickstart a new era for the franchise.

As CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora and I discussed on the Pick Six Podcast Wednesday (it's a DAILY NFL PODCAST, you should subscribe right here), the injury and Flacco's performance add up to the Ravens needing to make the switch.

La Canfora actually believes the switch is likely to happen this week, although the Ravens have been unsurprisingly mysterious and vague about their quarterback depth chart.

"I believe it will end up being Lamar Jackson. Flacco may respond to treatment in a way that makes him more viable to play by the weekend. But my read on that situation is there's going to be a lot of reps for Lamar in practice this week and I'd be surprised if it's not Lamar," La Canfora said.

Will this make the Ravens better? Worse?

"I think it could make them ... more difficult to defend. Big part of playing quarterback is throwing the football right? Joe Flacco doesn't do that all that well," La Canfora said. "But it's also managing the offense, it's putting yourself in positions that are conducive to game management, winning football, situational football and also a defense that has been on the field almost an average of 35 minutes a game and that relies on a 36-year old pass rusher and a 33-year old free safety and a bunch of linebackers who can't run."

JLC spent his Tuesday evening poring through NFL gamebooks to look at how the team is rushing the ball with Jackson under center vs. Flacco and, in what shouldn't be a shock to anyone, they're better when Lamar, a mobile, lighting-quick quarterback, is taking snaps.

"I went through the gamebooks, through every play, every snap of Lamar Jackson, when he's in at quarterback and compared it to the running game when Joe Flacco is under center," La Canfora explained. "Lamar has played 63 snaps by my count as a quarterback. He's thrown the ball 12 times -- they don't always label when the quarterback changes, so I've identified 62 of the 63 plays he's been on the field. The 50 run plays I found with Lamar Jackson at quarterback -- 50 carries, 232 yards, 4.64 per carry. That would be 10th in the NFL in per carry rushing.

"With Joe Flacco at quarterback, they've run the ball 181 times for 502 yards, 2.77 per carry. The league average is 4.38. The worst team in the league is Arizona at 3.41. Baltimore's second worst at 3.61. But with Joe Flacco under center it's 2.77.

"That, my friends, coupled with a quarterback who's 27th in QB Rating, 20th in touchdowns, 8th worst in interception percentage, 31st in yards per attempt, 20th in 25 yard plays, is that winning football?"

Spoiler alert: IT IS NOT.

And coming up on the docket are a group of games that make for an absolutely perfect spot to start Lamar. The Bengals (Week 11) defense is in freefall right now -- Marvin Lewis just fired Teryl Austin and took back playcalling duties after they became the first NFL team to give up 500 yards in three straight games. The Raiders (Week 12) are a JV team on that side of the ball right now. The Falcons (Week 13) can't stop anyone, including another AFC North rookie quarterback. The Chiefs (Week 14) are getting better, but more than willing to acquiesce to quarterback demands. The Buccaneers (Week 15) are the worst defense in football by many metrics.

You can't ask for a better spot to start Lamar Jackson right now. Flacco is injured, ineffective and the Ravens are desperate with a group of difficult offensive-first teams who don't stop anyone on the schedule. Just run RPOs and read options for the next five weeks and let Lamar do what he did to win the Heisman.

Pull the trigger, John Harbaugh.

To the rankings:

QB Rankings Week 11

1	Patrick Mahomes Kansas City Chiefs QB
The only real complaint about Patrick Mahomes at this point is that he puts ketchup on his steak.
2	Drew Brees New Orleans Saints QB
Drew Brees could easily be No. 1 on this list -- he's locked in and has thrown 13 touchdowns to 30 incompletions (!) in the last five games. The Saints are destroying everyone.
3	Philip Rivers Los Angeles Chargers QB
Casual day at the office against the Raiders for Philip Rivers , who continues to help the Chargers linger in the AFC West race, much closer to the Chiefs than people are letting on.
4	Andrew Luck Indianapolis Colts QB
Indianapolis is going to make a run in the AFC South and it's because the offensive line is keeping Andrew Luck upright and he just keeps throwing three touchdowns per game.
5	Ben Roethlisberger Pittsburgh Steelers QB
Over the Steelers five-game winning streak that vaulted them to the No. 2 seed in the AFC, Ben Roethlisberger is completing 68 percent of his passes, averaging over eight yards per attempt, with 13 touchdowns and two interceptions. Pittsburgh is scary again.
6	Cam Newton Carolina Panthers QB
Bad game on Thursday for Cam Newton , but I would expect a big bounceback against the Lions -- Carolina needs to pick up a decisive victory on the road, since they're likely playing there in the playoffs if they make it.
7	Jared Goff Los Angeles Rams QB
Very good chance to put up stats on Monday against the Chiefs, but also very curious how Jared Goff responds without Cooper Kupp . The Rams struggled a bit against Green Bay in his first action last time he was hurt.
8	Matt Ryan Atlanta Falcons QB
Not an outstanding effort against the Browns by Matt Ryan , but I would expect a bounceback against the Cowboys at home, where Ryan is infinitely more efficient.
9	Carson Wentz Philadelphia Eagles QB
Can't blame Carson Wentz for the Eagles losing -- they're 3-2 over their last five games, but he's been incredible, completing 73 percent of his passes for eight yards per attempt, 300 yards per game, 12 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
10	Aaron Rodgers Green Bay Packers QB
So this feels weird, because Aaron Rodgers is incredible and he's averaging over 300 yards passing per game over this last five games, but he is completing less than 60 percent of his passes and the Packers are either losing or barely beating inferior opponents. QB Wins isn't a thing but the Packers clearly need Rodgers to be perfect to win games. He can obviously make this look stupid on Thursday night.
11	Deshaun Watson Houston Texans QB
Badly needed bye week for the Texans to get Deshaun Watson some rest -- they've been easing the burden on him the last few weeks in terms of the offense. He averaged 38.4 passing attempts the first five weeks of the season and just 23.3 passing attempts the last four.
12	Tom Brady New England Patriots QB
Last year Tom Brady hit a stretch of the season where he looked quite mortal and he's coming up on the time where that would usually happen for him. Very curious how the four weeks after the bye look.
13	Russell Wilson Seattle Seahawks QB
The Seahawks don't have a really terrible loss on their slate, but they have five of them nonetheless. Russell Wilson's been good this year, but they haven't asked him to do as much, leaning heavily on the ground game. Curious to see how Thursday night plays out if a shootout erupts.
14	Kirk Cousins Minnesota Vikings QB
Monster, monster game against the Bears on Sunday night coming up. Kirk Cousins is quietly completing 71.3 percent of his passes on the season, which would be threatening the record if Brees wasn't obliterating his own mark.
15	Mitchell Trubisky Chicago Bears QB
In his last six games, Mitchell Trubisky is completing 63 percent of his passes, averaging 285 yards per game, nine yards per attempt and has 17 touchdowns and just four interceptions. If he beats the Vikings on Sunday night, we might finally start coming around on him across the board. I'm there, I'm just saying more people need to be.
16	Marcus Mariota Tennessee Titans QB
Marcus Mariota has been a completely different quarterback the last two weeks and MAN is it refreshing to see his talent actually being utilized. If he plays like this during the rest of 2018, the Titans are going to be a problem.
17	Dak Prescott Dallas Cowboys QB
Whatever the Cowboys did against the Eagles -- incorporate Amari Cooper more, give less effs about cutting Dak Prescott loose, be more aggressive, whatever -- they need to do more often moving forward because Dak looked pretty good. He draws a great matchup this week too.
18	Baker Mayfield Cleveland Browns QB
Baker Mayfield became the first rookie quarterback in NFL history with a QB rating of 150+ while attempting 20+ passes last week. This new offense without Hue Jackson suits him well.
19	Matthew Stafford Detroit Lions QB
Not a promising three-game run for Matthew Stafford , especially when you factor in the Lions trading away Golden Tate before the final two games of that stretch.
20	Andy Dalton Cincinnati Bengals QB
Tough on Andy Dalton right now, who has one game (against Tampa) with a QB rating above 100 since Tyler Eifert went down and now is missing A.J. Green.
21	Josh Rosen Arizona Cardinals QB
Not sure the stats show it, but you can see it if you watch Josh Rosen play -- he's got good pocket awareness and can absolutely WHIP balls downfield if given time. (He hasn't been given time a lot though.)
22	Ryan Fitzpatrick Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB
How on earth do you put up 500 yards of offense and only score three points? I'm not even mad, I'm amazed.
23	Alex Smith Washington Redskins QB
The Redskins traded for and paid "Pre-Mahomes Alex Smith " and that's fine because they're winning, but it's fair to wonder how long it can last behind a patchwork offensive line.
24	Case Keenum Denver Broncos QB
The Broncos have one win since September. I don't think Case Keenum is the one causing them to lose, but the idea they could just overcome the position was a little bit much.
25	Blake Bortles Jacksonville Jaguars QB
Finally a decent game from Blake Bortles against the Colts ! Too bad the defense decided not to show up. Lock the door/crawlspace game against the Steelers this week and you better believe Pittsburgh smells blood.
26	Eli Manning New York Giants QB
We spend a lot of time banging on Eli Manning and a MNF road victory over the 49ers isn't a season changer, but it was cool to see him march down the field and win the game for the Giants .
27	Derek Carr Oakland Raiders QB
Derek Carr has gotten an unfair and bad rap because of what's around him in Oakland, but throwing screen passes in the dirt on 4th-and-5 while trailing by 14 points in the other team's red zone is not ideal.
28	Joe Flacco Baltimore Ravens QB
Oh boy. Joe Flacco could miss time with a hip injury and by the time you're reading this Lamar Jackson could be the starter. It might be for the best.
29	Matt Barkley Buffalo Bills QB
Matt Barkley for MVP.
30	Josh McCown New York Jets QB
Hard to ding him for losing to the Bills too much when he had to come in sort of at the last minute for this gig.
31	Nick Mullens San Francisco 49ers QB
Not a terrible effort against the Giants, but clearly not the same thing as his earth-scorching performance against the Raiders.
32	Brock Osweiler Miami Dolphins QB
Since that one random magical game in Brocktober, Brock Osweiler is not playing well and the Dolphins are just 1-3. In his defense the receivers are all hurt, but still.