Scary good reason number 2: Nobody knows how to stop Lamar Jackson
For all the talk about sustainability, Lamar Jackson has been doing his thing on a weekly basis. When you look at the way Jackson is playing, the Ravens are one of the toughest teams to play. The Steelers picked him off three times. He still ran for 70 yards, threw a touchdown and led the game tying drive at the end of the fourth quarter. He’s ran for over 100 yards in three games this year and two of them have been back to back. He’s had over 200 yards passing in five out of seven games this season and he averages 82.3 yards per game on the ground. How do you stop a player who can realistically pass for 250 yards and run for 100 in any given week?
The obvious answer is that defenses need to punish him when they get the chance. Here’s the thing though, Jackson takes less bruising hits than most players. Jackson touches the ball on every play and when he runs, he runs smart. Jackson gives himself up with slides and well timed dives. He goes out of bounds. When he gets tackled he doesn’t fight for extra yards, he just goes down knowing he got what he had to get. The obvious answer is harder for defenses to achieve than people want to admit.
Jackson is able to win with his arm and with his legs. He lets defensive coordinators decide how to attack him. He takes what is given and Greg Roman knows how to call an offense for him. Jackson hasn’t been stopped this season. There have been times where his passing numbers are a little rough yet that’s when his rushing numbers pick up. He is unlike any quarterback in football. Nobody has figured out how to truly stop him. That makes the Ravens scary, even for the best defensive teams in the league like the New England Patriots and the San Francisco 49ers.