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Lamar Jackson rubbed his hands together. He beamed. For the first time in a month, the Ravens’ star quarterback was set to play in a game. Which meant that, for the first time in a month, he also had to answer questions Tuesday.

A lot of questions.

“Been a while,” Jackson said of the chance to return Thursday against the Miami Dolphins, his first appearance since a Week 4 hamstring injury. Much had happened since his last meeting with reporters, little of it pleasant: three blowout losses; reports questioning the team’s locker room culture and coaching; a week of Jackson ramping up in practice, only to be ruled out of Sunday’s game against Chicago after a practice report snafu; and finally, a win over the Bears that ended a four-game losing streak and renewed hopes of an AFC North title.

Jackson was asked over two dozen questions in his nine minutes at the podium Tuesday. He couldn’t or wouldn’t answer everything, but he did explain a lot. Here are six takeaways from his news conference.

1. Jackson didn’t remember how he got hurt in Week 4. He left after being sacked late in the third quarter of the eventual 37-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, one of three sacks he took in the game and one of 15 he’s taken this season.

Quarterbacks coach Tee Martin said earlier this month that Jackson appeared to be less than full strength after a handoff earlier in the game — “He normally carries out a fake, and I saw him wince a little bit, so it was in my mind” — but Jackson said of his hamstring injury’s origin: “Can’t call it.”

He also said he wasn’t dealing with an injury before the game.

2. Jackson knew he had to be patient with his hamstring injury. He indicated that the Ravens’ medical staff told him he’d need “a few weeks” to recover, but he knew that “hamstrings can be tricky.”

Jackson was a limited participant in his first two practices last week and led the scout team Friday, raising hopes that he could recover in time for Sunday’s game against the Bears.

But Jackson said Tuesday, “Only I know my body.” And he wanted to be careful with the first hamstring injury of his career.

“You don’t want to rush a hamstring injury back and make it worse, and then now you’re out for the whole season, you know?” he said. “This is my first time having it, and I thought I was able to move sometimes, and it’d still feel like a little tug in parts early on when I was rehabbing and stuff like that. I didn’t want to end my season or end my career on a hamstring injury.”

3. Jackson said he feels “100%” healthy now. Coach John Harbaugh said after Monday’s practice that he felt “very confident” that Jackson would return Thursday, and he participated fully in Tuesday’s practice for the first time since his injury. (Jackson was also estimated to be a full participant in Monday’s walk-through.)

“I’m just starting to feel good, so I’m ready to go now,” Jackson said.

Jackson, who has thrown for 869 yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception, and rushed 21 times for 166 yards and a score in four games this season, dismissed the notion that he’d need time to find a rhythm Thursday.

“That’s what practice is for, you know?” he said. “I was practicing with my guys today and I felt like we had a great day today. Execute tomorrow, and then, come Thursday night, just fly.”

4. Jackson said he was responsible for clearing the toys and games out of the Ravens’ locker room.

A Baltimore Sun report published during the bye week, citing unnamed players, said the decision to remove a Ping-Pong table, video game consoles and other diversions from the locker room had come from the coaching staff, which Harbaugh later disputed.

Cornerback Marlon Humphrey said on his podcast this week that Jackson was the driving force behind the locker room shakeup, which Jackson confirmed.

“I told [head equipment manager] Kenico Hines ... to take all the games and Ping-Pong [out], turn the TVs off, and if we could’ve taken the TVs out, they’d have been out, too,” he said. “Yeah, we had to focus. I won’t say people don’t take the job serious, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t feel like it was the time for that, you know? We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Jackson said the fun and games wouldn’t return for a while.

“Keep winning. Keep winning. Keep winning,” he said. “Because we’re not going to have them the rest of the year, so keep winning.”

5. Jackson knows how much pressure the Ravens are under. At 2-5, they’re two games behind the AFC North-leading Pittsburgh Steelers. They’re missing several key contributors, including defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike. Their line play has struggled throughout the season.

But the Ravens play just one team with a winning record over their next seven weeks, and on DraftKings, they’re back to being division favorites. Harbaugh, according to Jackson, told the team that “every game is going to be like a win-or-go-home game.” Jackson said he feels the Ravens have “always got a chance to make something happen, and we still do, and we showed that Sunday.”

He didn’t want to look far ahead at stringing together a winning streak.

“I’ve got to focus on Miami,” he said. “You can never overlook your opponent, so we’re going to focus on those guys, try to come out victorious, then move on to next week.”

6. Jackson is happy to play just about anywhere. The South Florida native hasn’t played at Hard Rock Stadium since 2021, and he downplayed any excitement about a homecoming game.

“It’s not about Miami, me going down there to Florida and playing,” he said. “It’s about any Sunday, any Thursday, any time, any Monday. It really doesn’t matter. I just want to play football and have fun and get a win. That’s all I’m focused on.”

Then he added a surprising caveat. “I don’t really care about what’s the area, unless it’s war,” he said. “Like I said before ... unless it’s a war, wherever it is, I don’t want to play. But I doubt there’ll be any wars over there in Florida. So [I’m] ready to play.”