Lamar Jackson Reveals Mentality for Historic Run, Each Ravens Game is 'Win-or-Go-Home'

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson understands the stakes for every remaining game as his team mounts an improbable playoff push following a 1-5 start.

"Coach [John Harbaugh] touched on that with us in a team meeting: Each and every game going to be like a win-or-go-home game," he said, per ESPN's Jamison Hensley. "It's the first season ever starting off this slow. It's do-or-die right now, each and every week."

Hensley noted only 1 percent of the NFL teams that lost five of their first six went on to qualify for the postseason. That pretty much speaks for itself in terms of the challenge sitting before Baltimore.

However, the Ravens trail the first-place Pittsburgh Steelers by just two games in the AFC North, and Jackson is returning to the field for Thursday's contest against the Miami Dolphins. The two-time MVP missed the last three games with a hamstring injury.

NFL Next Gen Stats actually gives Baltimore a 52 percent chance of making the playoffs as things currently stand, and those odds improve to 58 percent with a win in Week 9.

It may not be a coincidence that the Ravens snapped a four-game losing skid after their Week 7 bye. They had an extra week to rest and reset, and they head into Thursday night with all of their key stars healthy again.

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"I feel like we're all rejuvenated, so it was very beneficial for everyone [to get] more healthy," linebacker Roquan Smith said to Hensley. "We all know who we are and who we need to be, play in and play out and game in and game out."

Baltimore has almost no margin for error the rest of the way. Losing to the Dolphins would put the team's postseason hopes at 38 percent, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

With 10 games still left, adopting a win-or-go-home mindset can be mentally exhausting over time. But that reflects the predicament for Harbaugh's squad.