Baltimore Beatdown
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens finally return home after a long three-game road trip. After narrowly escaping the Browns in Cleveland last week, how can the Ravens avoid falling to an opponent where they are double digit favorites?
We can be honest. Lamar Jackson hasn’t been sharp since his return. A second-half performance against Miami is about it. There are a multitude of reasons for this, including health, poor O-line play, and some questionable play-calls. But Jackson himself hasn’t looked his sharpest, either. That doesn’t mean he’s no longer the best quarterback in the NFL. It just means he’s in a slump and needs a get-right game. And you couldn’t ask for a better one. This is Jackson’s first game at home since Week 3 in September, and it’s against a defense that’s allowed 27 or more points in seven of their 10 games.
The biggest point here in favor of Lamar Jackson is how the Jets blitz. We know by now that over the last three years with Todd Monken as the offensive coordinator, Jackson has transformed in arguably the best quarterback against the blitz. The numbers say he is the best. The Jets are blitzing at a top 10 rate in the NFL this year. More importantly, when they do blitz, according to Sharp Football Analysis, they play man coverage over 60% of the time. And, of course, the Jets’ record this year indicates they aren’t very good at man-blitzing, either.Think back to the Miami game mentioned above. That was also a team that man-blitzed a lot and wasn’t effective at it. It’s a perfect time for Jackson to lock back in. If the Ravens are going to make noise come January, Jackson has to be playing at an elite level to nullify this bad offensive line.
We all know this issue. There’s no reason to continue to rehash it. The only thing that actually matters is whether can they fix it. The answer is yes, because the Ravens have Lamar Jackson. If it sounds simple, that’s because it is, because that’s how good he is when he plays at his best. But in the meantime, what can the Ravens do to fix it?
The first answer is to stop running Henry up the middle in shotgun. My answer would be to just stop running Henry up the middle entirely, but you can’t just completely abandon that. So if the Ravens are going to do that, it should be from under center, with Patrick Ricard playing fullback, leading the way. Other than that, I’d like to see the Ravens spread it out. They seem to condense their formations, then either run Henry or run that sprint-out play. That play used to work all the time, but teams are wise to it now, and with Lamar Jackson’s legs clearly limited, teams simply don’t feel the need to leave their spots to crash on him. If...
