The sensational Lamar Jackson is coming for it all
What Lamar Jackson is doing is warping our perception of football. Jackson put on a show against the hapless Bengals on Sunday, cementing his status as the MVP front-runner. Jackson became the first quarterback in NFL history to finish two games in the same season with a perfect passer rating (on a minimum of 20 attempts), and was so good even the Bengals fans were moved to chant “M-V-P” as he left the field.
The Ravens as an organization deserve credit for handing their entire football operations over to this oncein-a-lifetime talent. Never have we seen such a smooth, efficient runner. Jackson is unique aesthetically andstatistically.
The Ravens opted to move on from the plodding Joe Flacco last year and turned their offense into a wholesale option system behind the unprecedented threat of Jackson’s legs and arm. They took concepts first built in the 1940s and injected them with all the sprinklings of the modern game.
We’ve almost seen this before, with Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers. The Niners were just scratching the surface with option football when Kaepernick helped propel them to a Super Bowl against these very Ravens. Back then, Greg Roman was the offensive coordinator for the Niners. Now, in Baltimore, Roman is finishing what he started.
But this is still different. Kaepernick never played with the efficiency or precision of Jackson. He just wasn’t quite the same thrower; nobody has been the same runner. We have had springy quarterbacks before. We’ve had quarterbacks look like the best athletes on the field – an almost oxymoronic state of the game: Cam Newton, Michael Vick et al. But we’ve never had a quarterback quite as effective at running the ball.
It’s tempting to say Jackson plays at his own pace, but we typically ascribe that to slower guys. Jackson is explosive in tight spaces. He slithers through creases, drops his shoulder and accelerates, all in one liquid movement. He’s good slow and fast. He plays at whatever pace serves him. His running style is almost indescribable. His shoulders and feet move at different speeds. Jackson appears to be floating above the turf, his feet dabbing the ground – the merest contact for maximum velocity. That. That is football pornography. When Baltimore’s offense is rolling – when the aggressive plays, speedy weapons, and up-tempo pace work in unison – the offense is less about executing football plays and more about waging psychological warfare. They have found a sweet spot where guys play with freedom and confidence but don’t break from the team construct. They have the best tight end trio in the game, one of the sports best athletes at wide receiver, and the game’s top run-blocking offensive line. How do you plan coherent strategy against a lineup in which everyone is dangerous from everywhere? You can’t.
Option football is unsophisticated at its core. Turning the quarterback into a runner makes every offensive play a 1-v-1 matchup across the board. And the Ravens one is better than yours – often much better. The team is so in on the system, and defense are so utterly terrified of Jackson’s legs, that the offensive line can run-up to the secondlevel and take-on linebackers – not seal then climb as is traditional. It’s flat-out unfair.
Cincinnati’s defense was as clueless as expected against such a system. The Ravens started to have so fun. Behold: the most effective offense in the NFL, in all its wackadoo goodness:
No big deal: that’s just three Heisman trophy winners in one backfield – backup quarterback Robert Griffin III, Mark Ingram and Jackson. The sick part: you know the Ravens will come back to that package later in the season, giving Griffin the option to throw.
Jackson becoming a legitimate passing threat makes this whole thing sing. He has grown so much in just one year.Last year,he was often a beat too early or too late on throws over the middle. He missed sight adjustments. Little nuances of the game – hot reads, precision over accuracy (throwing to a specific spot for runs after the catch, not just to complete the pass) and when and where to pull the ball to run – would ebb and flow. In other words: he was a rookie starting in the NFL.
What makes an offense great? In short, the ability to efficiently attack multiple parts of the field and overstress any defense. Good offenses can do something so well that defenses have to adjust their systems to stop it. Great offenses punish the defense for that adjustment. Jackson’s evolution
has made the top offense in the league, and crystalized Roman’s vision of what a modern offense could look like with a dual-threat at quarterback.
The Ravens face the 24th-ranked schedule, by DVOA, the rest of the way. A 13-3 season seems reasonable. Lamar Jackson is coming for it all: MVP, the Super Bowl, your team’s soul.
Quote of the week
“I think Dalvin believes that he’s really good. I believe that too.” – Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer
Yeah, Dalvin is probably right on this one. The Vikings upset the Cowboys in Dallas, 28-24, despite a monster game from Dak Prescott and the Cowboys pass offense. Dalvin Cook continued to show why he’s neck-andneck with Christian McCaffrey for the title of best all-around running back in the league. Cook ran for 97-yards, including the go-ahead touchdown on fourth down, and had another 86-yards receiving to set up three other scores. I’d say that qualifies as really good.
Stat of the week
Your weekly reminder that the NFL is weird and nobody knows anything: The Falcons entered week 10 with just seven sacks all season. The Saints have one of best offensive lines in football, if not the best. So, of course, the Falcons had sixsacks when they faced off Sunday.
The Falcons pass rush was too much for Drew Brees and the Saints O-line, generating pressure on 35% of dropbacks. Entering Week 10, the Falcons ranked 31st in team pressure rate (19%), while the Saints allowed the 4thlowest pressure rate (22%).
MVP of the week
Patrick Mahomes went for 36-of-50 for 446-yards and three touchdowns without a turnover against the Titans on a bum wheel. And the Chiefs lost. The Titans remain the league’s zonkiest team.
It wouldn’t be a Mahomes game without an illogical completion. This time, he opted to throw while jumping intohis line of scrimmage, buying him the extra half-second needed to allow him to complete the pass.
Video of the week
This is such an illogical, audacious, stupid play call – and it is wonderful:
Utilizing all four downs and calling a fake punt: smart. Doing so with a flea-flicker that requires your punter to thread the needle 20-yards down the field: Dumb. Somehow, it worked.
Elsewhere around the league
• Minkah Fitzpatrick’s been a Steeler for seven games. Over that time, he has four interceptions, two fumble recoveries, two touchdowns and one forced fumble. His midseason acquisition from the Dolphins will go down as one of the deals of the decade.
• The Rams’ offensive line is sinking their season. All of a sudden Andrew Whitworth, a perennial AllPro player, is just OK. The rest of the line has been a disaster. No matter how creative Sean McVay’s scheme can be, it all falls apart when you cannot protect the passer. The Rams are the third-best team in their own division. After losing 17-12 to the Steelers and their backup quarterback, missing the playoffs seems likely.
• Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Dolphins defense continue to spoil the organization’s plan to tank the season. With two wins in as many weeks, Miami is likely out of the picture for the first overall pick in the upcoming draft, the sole focus of the team heading into the season.
• Adam Vinatieri is 14-for-20 on extra points this season. That’s a 70% conversion rate, which would be the worst extra point rate for a season in NFL history (minimum 20 attempts). His career is coming to a slow, agonizing end. Here’s hoping he has one more great moment before the Colts ultimately decide to move on.