If Jackson’s locked in, can anyone stop him?
Another NFL season having reached its final week, it’s time, football fans, to serve up one of those ridiculous questions we media nitwits tend to ask.
Blame it on the Baltimore Ravens. They made me do it.
Can any NFL team overcome the purple-and-black machine that trounced the Dolphins on Sunday, 56-19, to earn the AFC’s top playoff seed just six days after it crunched the NFC-leading 49ers on the road?
Sure. Someone might it. Bigger upsets can be found in many NFL postseasons. It wasn’t long ago, after all, that the 49ers looked spooky.
But unless injuries bite them, the Ravens (13-3) stand to be favored against any postseason opponent; and in the playoffs, they’ll probably be favored by a touchdown or more, regardless which AFC team goes to Baltimore.
It’s interesting that a team so dominant could sprout from little old Baltimore, which has a media market nearly identical to San Diego’s, ranking 28th to our 30th in the Nielsen list.
The Ravens are striking another blow for an NFL economic system that’s more egalitarian than Major League Baseball’s system, although their neighbors the Orioles are stretching a relatively tiny MLB payroll into World Series contention after years of misery.
The Ravens pack a wallop in all three phases. Their NFL-leading defense held Miami 12 points below its
NFL-best scoring average. Their offense, which stood fourth in points, ripped the Dolphins for 313 yards in the first half on 11.6 per play. Their special teams had another strong game.
No quarterback is playing better than Lamar Jackson, the Louisville alum drafted by Ozzie Newsome in the retired GM’s final NFL draft nearly six years ago.
Jackson’s second MVP award is all but assured. But don’t look for the QB to celebrate anything with much gusto unless the Ravens get to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl.
In the routs of the 49ers (12-4) and Dolphins (11-5), the QB maintained a stoic air as his teammates celebrated next to him.
Baltimore’s 1-3 record in Jackson’s playoff starts may have something to do with the perpetual game face.
“You can’t get overwhelmed with what’s going on right now,” he told CBS after Sunday’s frolic on Baltimore’s impressively lush grass field. He added: “I’m locked in.”
Never looking unsettled, Jackson completed 18 of 21 passes for 321 yards, five touchdowns and a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
He didn’t need to run for yards, but that threat benefited the offense by forcing the Dolphins to scale back their pass-rush stunts and spy on Jackson with a second-tier defender.
This is the season of Peak Lamar: a 26-year-old who has matured as a passer yet has maintained his terrifying run threat.
Providing Jackson better support than in his other five seasons is part of why the Ravens are headed to their 11th postseason in 16 years under coach John Harbaugh.
(Harbaugh’s 2012 team, San Diegans would rather not recall, went 4-0 in the Super Bowl tournament behind QB Joe Flacco. Jump-starting that run was Ray “Hey Diddle Diddle” Rice’s stunning fourthand-29 conversion that led to a massive victory in San Diego.)
The best of Jackson’s wide receiver corps by far — thanks to newcomers Odell Beckham Jr. and rookie Zay Flowers, and the return to health of Rashod Bateman — has blunted seasonending injuries to 2021 AllPro tight end Mark Andrews in Week 11 and running back J.K. Dobbins, he of the 6-yard-per-carry average as a rookie, in September.
New Ravens coordinator Todd Monken devised a more advanced passing offense. But he didn’t overly neglect the physical ground game, long a staple under Harbaugh.
Because there’s always a San Diego angle…
The Ravens unveiled Sunday a capable third running back in Melvin Gordon, the Chargers’ top pick in 2015 who began his NFL career in San Diego and was activated recently after speedster Keaton Mitchell’s ACL blew out.
Gordon powered past two Dolpnins defenders to score the offense’s seventh TD Sunday.
Coaching a Ravens offensive line that dominated the Dolphins was Joe D’Alessandris.
His 2013 San Diego Chargers’ blocking front had a strong playoff game in the upset victory at Cincinnati.
Longtime fans of the football Aztecs will recall Ravens assistant receiver coach Keith Williams as a regular on the San Diego State teams between 1991 and 1993.
Big crowds gathered in Mission Valley to see those Aztecs offenses led by Marshall Faulk.
(Yes, Williams had a big dropped pass against visiting USC in a 31-31 tie.)
Come Feb. 11, will the San Diego transplants join the Ravens in pursuing the franchise’s third Super Bowl victory?
Jackson never has led the Ravens to an AFC title game, much less a Super Bowl, but the teams best equipped to upset the Ravens are in the NFC.
Start with the 49ers. In a rematch they would be more accustomed to the Ravens’ unorthodox offense.
The Cowboys would pose a threat because both of their lines are better than average.
Know this: these Ravens are more complete than any Ravens club, including their two Super Bowl winners. Jackson is right to stay grounded, but his team warrants its favorite status.