Jackson endures some struggles
Of the 24 passes Lamar Jackson attempted Sunday, there were just two he wanted back. One was an overthrown ball to wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. The otherwas a lowpass toPatrick Ricard— a touchdown pass.
“Could have been better,” the Ravens quarterback said after a 33-16winover theHoustonTexans, still bothered that his Pro Bowl fullback had had to dive for the 1-yard catch. “But that’s about it.”
If this is the new normal for
Jackson, if a win with 75% accuracy is a modest disappointment, maybe the NFL’s reigning Most Valuable Player isn’t due to regress, after all. Maybe Jackson’s historic 2019 was only a stepping-stone to an even more efficient 2020.
He has made it hard to predict whatwillcomenext. AstheRavens (2-0) approach their “Monday Night Football” showdown against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs (2-0), Jackson’s career has been defined by a defiance of the sport’s norms and conventions. In Year 1, he won as a running quarterback. In Year 2, he dominated as a dual-threatweapon.
In Year 3, at age 23, Jackson has evolved into one of the NFL’s most accurate passers, a transformation that seemed impossible two years ago. Even as a Heisman Trophywinning quarterback at Louisville, he never completed above 59.1% of his passes in a season.
Through two games, Jackson is 38-for-49 (77.6%). Only Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (82.5%) has been more accurate.
“I feel good,” Jackson said Sunday. “But, you know, there’s still some passes that I want back. But that’s what I’m going to get at when I get out there on the practice field. That’s when the mechanics and throws that I want or didn’t have in the game, that’s when that takes over. It starts in practice.”
Jackson’s improvements owe as much to his mentality as they do to his mechanics. After he went 20-for-25 for 275 yards and three touchdowns in a Week 1 win over
the Cleveland Browns — his third-highest completion percentage in 24 career starts — Jackson said the speed of the game had slowed for him “a lot.” Ravens coaches have always raved about Jackson’s field vision, but film study and practice were helping him process coverages faster.
To stretch the field, Jackson needed to address his technique, too. His offseason work with personal quarterback coach Joshua Harris focused on his throwing base; sometimes, Jackson would get too narrow, a persistent problem incollege, and throwfrom his toes. The power for sideline throws and deep shots had to come from his lower body.
The early results are promising. Last year, according to Pro-Football-Reference, Jackson completed 39.5% of his “deep” throws (15-plus air yards), and Pro Football Focus
rated him average on 20-plus-yard attempts. This year, he’s 7-for-12 (58.3%) when going deep, according to Pro-Football-Reference, with no completion prettier than his outside-the-numbers, 47-yard bomb to Brown inWeek1.
“You can tell he’s a lot more comfortable, and he’s a lot more pinpoint with it,” Brown said after the game. “It’s nowour job to be at the spot, because that’s where he’s putting it. He’s doing a good job of throwing it away fromdefenders and throwing it towhere you can catch and run.”
Accuracy concerns dogged Jackson through the predraft process in 2018. In2016, when he became the youngest-ever Heisman winner as a sophomore at Louisville, he completed just 56.2% of his passes. (Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray and LSU’s Joe Burrow, the next three Heisman-winning quarterbacks, all checked in at 69% or higher.)
In 2017, despite a Cardinals receiving corps that had one of the nation’sworst drop
rates, Jackson’s accuracy improved to a career-high mark, and his arm strength flashed every week. But mechanical problems lingered. According to PFF, Jackson’s adjusted completion percentage, which accounts for factors outside a quarterback’s control on drop-backs, rankedNo. 25 among quarterbacks in the 2018 draft class.
He ultimately fell to the Ravens at No. 32 overall, the fifth quarterback taken.
“When you watched Lamar [in college], we felt like he had arm talent, and he had accuracy — that he had the ability to be accurate,” Ravens coach JohnHarbaugh said Monday. “We felt like a lot of the misthrows that he hadwere more about technique than anything else. And sometimes other things blend into it, too, and certainly, experience and repetitions and stuff like that.”
Jackson’s steady progress as a passer has lifted theRavens’ offense into theNFL’s elite. As a rookie, he completed 58.2% of his passes. During his MVP season, he finished at 66.1%, a single-season Ravens record.