The two sides of Lamar Jackson
There are people who will tell you that Lamar Jackson isn’t a good pocket passer. Those people are absolutely and demonstrably wrong, and they have been since at least 2019. That said, Jackson’s ability to make things happen outside the pocket after a play breaks down is obviously a superpower, and it was never more so than it was when the Baltimore Ravens beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 23-7 last Sunday night.
With 58 seconds left in the third quarter, and the Ravens up 10-7, Jackson took the snap at the Jacksonville 30-yard line. The Jaguars were in Cover-6 — Cover-4 to the boundary and Cover-2 to the field — and sent four pass-rushers. Defensive end Dawuane Smoot beat right tackle Morgan Moses through the pocket, and Jackson was in trouble… for a second. Smoot nearly took Jackson down, but Jackson somehow escaped Smoot’s clutches, rolled to his left, and as Smoot closed in, threw a cross-body ball to tight end Isaiah Likely, who had two defenders converging on him, for a 26-yard gain.
Smoot’s reaction was similar to everybody else’s — “How did you DO that?”
This sequence is just SO incredible
Lamar Jackson hits Isaiah Likely for a big gain on one of the best plays you’ll see after avoiding Dawuane Smoot twice
All Smoot can do after is scream “HOW?” at Jackson, shake his head, and scream again in frustration pic.twitter.com/jiaOCiffqT
— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) December 18, 2023
It’s a fair question, and Jackson was happy to explain after the fact.
“The defense went quarters,” Jackson said. “They dropped quarters on me. We had verts [vertical routes] going little stick nods. I don’t know if it was 91 [Smoot], I want to say, right side. He just made a good play [and] beat our guy. I just had to make a play, make something happen. I Likely. I believe if he wasn’t so free, Likely would have scored because I already [saw] him, but I couldn’t throw it because [Smoot] was rushing, and I [didn’t] want to have a fumble happen, so I just made something happen, and I [saw] him. I [saw No.] 31 [cornerback Darious Williams] flying under. I’m like, ‘If I try to drive it, it’s going to be an interception,’ and I already threw one, so I was [ticked] off. So, it’s like, just give Likely a shot. I know he can jump a little, so it’s like, just give him a shot, and he made a play, a great play.”
A great play, indeed. This was 12 personnel with Likely and tight end Charlie Kolar aligned to each side of the formation. Likely rolled deep across from right to left, and by the time Jackson escaped Smoot, Likely was waving “wide open” like Jimmy Orr in Super Bowl III.
This week, Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken discussed how he’s able to work Jackson’s scrambling ability into the design of his playbook.
“The first thing when [Lamar Jackson] extends plays when you’re throwing is your eyes go to the skill guys that are down the field in terms of their scramble rules and how far we’ve worked to come when you have a two-play quarterback. To me, we’re unique. We have a two-play quarterback. They have to defend the first play, and they have to defend the second play. We have to continue to work to be elite in terms of our scramble rules. Early on in the game, we did that. [On] the very first drive, we had two scramble plays that converted. Obviously, we had another one that led to a touchdown – the one to Isaiah down the field. You’ll see that throughout.
“When you’re a two-play quarterback, as I say this all the time with a guy like Lamar, there isn’t one pass play we’re going to call more often than scramble. There isn’t. I don’t care [if it’s] four vertical [routes], curl-flat [routes], three-level routes. It does not matter. There will not be a route we’ll call more than our ability to handle when he gets outside the pocket and our scramble rules.”
But Jackson’s touchdown pass to Likely with 1:18 left in the first half was a different story — a great throw from the pocket. Go figure. The Jaguars were in Cover-3, and Jackson made a great tight-window throw for the score.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into the difficulties a defense has when facing a “two-play quarterback” as Jackson is. The San Francisco 49ers will deal with all of that on Christmas night in what may turn out to be a Super Bowl preview.
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” featuring all of Week 16’s biggest NFL matchups (including Ravens-49ers of course), right here:
You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
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