Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh stated on Monday that the star quarterback Lamar Jackson would return to action in Week 9.

He added, “We expect him to be there on Thursday night.”

Harbaugh refused to comment last Monday on Jackson’s return. He said, “We’ll see who is back and who practices Wednesday.”

On Wednesday, Jackson practiced. Harbaugh responded that it is “hard to quantify” his chances of playing Week 8.

Harbaugh was not at the podium Thursday, but on Friday he claimed that Jackson had “a full practice.” This is not true, since full participation in the scout teams does not constitute a full session. The league launched an investigation after the change in their injury report.

Harbaugh, however, did not use ‘confident,’ when referring to Jackson, last week. He said before the bye that he hoped Jackson would return to Week 8 but he didn’t use that word or any derivatives of it last week.

Harbaugh uses coachspeak just like everyone else in the NFL, but the specific words he used last week could have been a sign that Jackson was not returning as soon as many thought. Jackson’s upgrade from partial participation to full participation during Monday’s walk-through is a better indicator of his likelihood to play this week.