5 October 2023
Lamar Jackson is doing things that he has never done.
His 74.3% completion rate is eight percentage points higher than his career-best mark in a season. His 16 yards per attempt are nearly 3 1/2 more than the highest rate of any year of his career as the full-time starter. He’s leading a Ravens offense that is tops in the NFL in red zone efficiency at 80% with 12 touchdowns scored in 15 trips.
“He’s able to do so many other things that other quarterbacks can’t do,” tight end Mark Andrews said. “That’s a beautiful thing. Lamar Jackson’s second to none.”
Technically, he is — only Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen has a higher completion percentage at 74.8.
But for all of Jackson’s passing fancy, the additions of wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr., Zay Flowers, Nelson Agholor, a new offensive coordinator in Todd Monken and $170 million spent on the offense — most in the NFL — the Ravens haven’t quite turned into the explosive, high-octane offense that some might have expected.
Jackson’s 794 passing yards through the first four games are the fourth-fewest in the NFL, ahead of only the Tennessee Titans’ Ryan Tannehill, New York Giants’ Daniel Jones and New Orleans Saints’ Derek Carr and fewer than the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Kenny Pickett, Chicago Bears’ Justin Fields, Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield and New England Patriots’ Mac Jones, among others. His four touchdown passes are as many as the much-maligned New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson and only one more than Indianapolis Colts rookie Anthony Richardson. His average intended air yards (6.9) per pass is one of the lowest in the league; he’s attempted just nine passes of 20 yards or more and his 198.5 yards passing per game ranks 22nd overall.
Meanwhile, the Ravens rank 13th in total yards per game with 335, just ahead of the 1-3 Denver Broncos and behind the similarly woeful Arizona Cardinals. They have the seventh-fewest passing yards in the league and are 12th in total points.
Where’s the explosiveness?
“It’s probably a function of the offense and where we want to go with it and what the defense is giving us, so both of those two things,” coach John Harbaugh said when asked about the Ravens’ lack of long passes and big plays. “We want to throw the ball downfield. We’ve had some success doing it. It’s really a big part of what we want to do.
“But we also want to get the ball out quick, which we didn’t have as many of those [against the Browns] — quick passes, RPOs [run-pass options]. Those are things that keep a defense honest when they want to pack in on your run game, too.”
In other words, while the Ravens’ offense is vastly different now compared with that of previous offensive coordinator Greg Roman — particularly with the number of three- and four-receiver sets and a faster pace — there are also many similarities. Baltimore is fourth in the NFL in rushing yards, is sixth in yards per carry and its eight rushing touchdowns rank fourth behind the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins. Jackson, meanwhile, already has 220 yards rushing, or more than a third of the team’s 605.
Still, the Ravens have taken some shots.
In Week 1 against the Houston Texans, Jackson hit Flowers on a pair of deep throws of 20 yards and Beckham with another that went for 29 yards. The following game against the Cincinnati Bengals there was the 52-yard bomb to Flowers along with a few other attempts that fell incomplete. In a Week 3 loss to the Colts, Jackson attempted just six passes of more than 10 yards but hit on a couple of them to tight ends Isaiah Likely and Andrews. Sunday against the Browns, there was the 43-yard bomb to a streaking Flowers after Jackson scrambled to buy time.
“If we can beat people downfield with double moves, straight-up deep routes, play-action shots — those are massive, massive plays, and it showed up in the [Cleveland] game — even extended plays as you saw when Lamar scrambled out to the right [and] hit Zay coming across the field,” Harbaugh said. “That’s part of your deep passing game.”
When the Ravens have gone deep, they’ve been fairly effective, and Jackson has been efficient, passing deep and otherwise.
He has a 104.2 passer rating and has been the most accurate quarterback on throws 10 or more yards downfield, according to Pro Football Focus. His unpredictability has also made the Ravens one of the more dangerous offenses in the league — Jackson is just the fourth quarterback over the past 10 years to have at least four rushing and four passing touchdowns in the first four weeks of a season. And his accuracy only adds to it, with his second-quarter touchdown pass to Andrews over three Browns defenders having only a 17% completion probability, per Next Gen Stats.
“That’s as good a throw that you’re ever going to see,” Harbaugh said. “His completion percentage speaks for itself. It speaks to all the guys — receivers, offensive line, everybody — but we’ve always believed in his ability to throw the ball.”
Jackson hasn’t been without his hiccups, of course.
Notably, he has already fumbled six times. Those cost the Ravens against the Colts and most certainly will again if they continue to be a problem.
But as usual, as goes Jackson, so go the Ravens.
“I have to say it’s all part of it, and I think we’ll just see as it goes game to game,” Harbaugh said of his quarterback taking bigger throws downfield. “Every week is different. It really is not a function of any grand plan other than we want to be able to do all those things well.”
So far, so good.
Week 5
Ravens at Steelers
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Chs. 13, 9
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Ravens by 4
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