QB Jackson’s anger gave Ravens what they needed
SEATTLE – Lamar Jackson’s frustration had reached near combustible levels.
He had the Ravens in scoring position at the 16-yard line on a crucial late third-quarter possession against the Seahawks. But then that opportunity seemingly started slipping away.
First, tight end Mark Andrews dropped a perfectly placed pass in the end zone. Then, center Matt Skura couldn’t hear Jackson clap for the ball because of the deafening cheers of the Seahawks faithful and drew a delay of game penalty, after which Jackson slammed the ball – once he finally did get it – to the turf in rage.
Two plays later, with his team facing 4th-and-2, coach John Harbaugh was content to settle for a field goal to break a 13-13 tie. But nah, man. That complacency didn’t sit well with Jackson. As the field goal unit trotted onto the field, the seething second-year quarterback made a beeline for his coach and demanded a change in play calls.
“I told him, ‘We’re going for it,’ ” Jackson later recounted. “I told him to go for it because we needed to score. We had moved the ball down the field twice. We’re not kicking a field goal, because Russell Wilson’s getting the ball again, and if we didn’t score, it might look ugly.”
Harbaugh told Jackson he was putting the ball in his hands.
As he strode back onto the field, everything about Jackson’s body language spoke to the frustration and determination that boiled within him. So it wasn’t at all surprising when he took the shotgun snap, sprinted up the middle on a designed run called “quarterback power,” slipped between defenders and scored from 8 yards out.
“I just got mad,” Jackson told USA TODAY Sports during a talk in front of his locker a short time after helping carry his Ravens to a 30-16 victory Oct. 20. “We’d already been down there twice and came away with just six points when it should’ve been 14 to whatever . ... Ain’t no way we can put our defense back out there with three points. That wasn’t going to help us. … When I took that snap, knew I had to get the first down. Everyone was outside, so I hit the lane, got the first down and scored, actually.”
Jackson’s touchdown run, which came with 1:24 left in the third quarter, ignited a Baltimore squad that had struggled to find firm footing on a rain-soaked day at CenturyLink Field. But the play did more than spark a 17-3 scoring run that the Ravens used to clinch their fifth victory of the season.
For one, Jackson also made good on a promise. The game represented both a homecoming and a shot at vindication for Ravens safety Earl Thomas.
The last time Seattle fans saw Thomas, he was in their uniform, riding on the back of the medical cart with a broken leg and giving coach Pete Carroll the finger. He had played that day despite not having a longterm contract from the team – a deal he believed he had earned – and one of his greatest fears, a season-ending injury, happened. Seattle never did extend that contract offer to the sixtime Pro Bowl selection, and he signed with Baltimore.
So throughout the week leading up to Thomas’ return to Seattle, Jackson kept telling his teammate, “I’m going to put you on my back, put the team on my back if I got to, and we are going to win.”
Jackson rushed for 116 yards and the touchdown on 14 carries and passed for another 143 yards. The Ravens’ defense added two touchdowns – a 67-yard interception return by cornerback Marcus Peters in the second quarter, and an 18-yard fumble recovery return by cornerback Marlon Humphrey with 3:37 left in the game. But teammates credited Jackson for energizing the Ravens in their definitive final quarter-and-a-half.
“He’s only going to get better. … Everything y’all see, he’s going to continue to improve,” running back Mark Ingram told USA TODAY.