Mythbusters: Lamar Jackson playing from behind

The Titans game:

The Ravens went down 7-0 to the Titans after an impressive opening drive ended with an interception from Jackson on what many have called a “drop” from Mark Andrews. The ball was high but Andrews would likely concede he should have caught it. 35 yards later, the Titans took the lead and never looked back.

After a six play drive ended on 4th down, the Titans hit a quick strike to extend their lead to 14-0 and the Ravens run heavy game plan vanished. After a Titans punt, the Ravens were looking to take a deep shot to Seth Roberts and Jackson threw an absolute DIME into tight coverage. Roberts had nothing but green grass in front of him and the Ravens were on their way to making their way back into the game. Except this happened:

The defense would force another punt and the Ravens would take over trailing 14-0 with 11:12 to go in the first half. Jackson engineered a 12 play 59 yard drive in which he accounted for 50 yards on 2-6 passing before Justin Tucker drilled a 49 yard field goal to get the Ravens on the board at last.

The defense would hold the Titans again and Jackson would take over with 2:31 in the half trailing 14-3.The Ravens marched 91 yards in 14 plays with Jackson finishing 7-10 for 101 yards but the Ravens would once again have to settle for a field goal to cut the Titans lead to 14-6 at the half.

Out of the half the Ravens were moving the ball well once again and were threatening to tie the game or cut the lead to five. Jackson was 2-6 for 17 yards and added 40 yards on the ground in a drive that had reached the Titans 18. The Ravens continued their season long aggression going for it on fourth down where Jackson was stopped for no gain turning the ball over to the Titans.

Six plays and 81 yards later, the Titans had extended the lead to 21-6 and the Ravens were firmly on the ropes. On the first play of the next drive, Jackson held the ball for too long trying to evade the rush and make a play down field. He was sacked and fumbled the ball at the Ravens 20. The defense couldn’t stop a nose bleed on this day and six plays later it was 28-6.

Jackson then  committed his ugliest turnover when trailing to date. The Ravens were again marching (a theme of the day), before this happened:

Jackson stares down this route all the way and the veteran Vaccaro eats it up. The defense would force a Titans punt and the Ravens took over trailing 28-6 with 14:49 remaining in the contest.

Jackson engineered a 10 play 88 yard touchdown drive in 3:45 to cut the lead to 28-12 (dang they stunk on two point conversions). In the drive, Jackson was 6-9 for 43 yards and a touchdown while adding 40 yards rushing as well to help give the Ravens some life.

Shockingly enough, the defense responded and the offense took over at the Ravens 20 with 6:25 to go trailing by two scores. The Ravens would again put together a successful drive churning out yards led by the MVP who totaled 69 yards on the failed march that saw the Ravens stall out again in the red zone on an incompletion to Mark Andrews.

The Ravens would get more crack at it on offense with 2:45 to go after the defense forced another Tennessee punt. Jackson and company again would have a successful drive that found them inside the Titans red zone once again. But again, in the key scoring area, they would fail and the Ravens would fall 28-12.

The Ravens ended up having eight total possessions after falling behind 14-0 and they reached the Titans  35 in all but one of those drives. Yes they did break down in the scoring areas of the field but it wasn’t like Jackson and company were unable to make any progress up and down the field.

Overall the Ravens and Jackson are much more comfortable playing from ahead just like every other NFL team. And while Jackson failed to come back in any of these games, he hardly tanked and oftentimes got the game to a manageable state prior to the defense allowing the knockout blow. Also to Jackson’s credit, the Ravens haven’t been in many positions to come back throughout his tenure in Baltimore.

With more adversity a near certainty heading into 2020, Jackson should get more chances to prove that he can be successful playing from behind. And thankfully, there are more weapons in the picture with the arrivals of DDP (Dobbins, Duvernay, and Proche.)

I am not saying that Jackson is the next Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers in terms of being able to chase a game down from behind. I am simply suggesting that when he has been placed in a position to do so, the results haven’t necessarily matched the quality of his play.