Ravens' Lamar Jackson reveals truth over locker room cleanout

The Baltimore Ravens know it is go time for the team if they are to make a run at the playoffs, and as such, they wanted to minimize distractions.

That led to reports of the Ravens' coaching staff removing a ping-pong table from the locker room, but we didn't know who gave that order to equipment manager Kenico Hines.

Well, now we do, and it wasn't the coaching staff; it was Lamar Jackson.

“I told Kenico [Hines], our head equipment guy, I told him to take all the games, ping pong, turn the TVs off, if we could have taken out the TVs they’d have been out too,” Jackson said. “I appreciate Mr. Steve [Bisciotti, Ravens owner] for putting that in for us, but we had to focus.

"I don’t want to say people don’t take their jobs seriously, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t feel it was the time for that. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

More: Ravens' Lamar Jackson makes surprising admission about hamstring injury

When will Lamar Jackson return?

Having missed the last three games with a hamstring injury, many are wondering when exactly Lamar will return to the field. With the Ravens on a short week against the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night, some were skeptical of Jackson playing.

But stress less, Ravens fans, because No. 8 is back and says he "feels great," which is exactly what fans want to hear with their team at 2-5 and needing it nearly run the table just to be in with a shot of making the postseason.

The focus has to be on one thing and one thing only for Baltimore: football.

Jackson knows the importance of having that singular focus, and if that means no games or toys in the locker room, then that's what it will be.

It's gut-check time in Baltimore. 

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• Revisiting the epic Lamar Jackson vs. Tyler Huntley high school football game between future Ravens teammates