So, we’re past the point where anybody is assuming Lamar Jackson is anything but a pure quarterback, right? Yeah, we thought so. Jackson’s bravura performance against the Rams on Monday Night Football — he completed 15 of 20 passes for 169 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions against Wade Phillips’ helpless defense — put the league on notice (as if the league wasn’t already on notice) that Jackson can beat you just as easily with his passing as he can with his rushing abilities. Through the 2019 season, Jackson has taken great strides as a quarterback, improving his ability to throw with anticipation and accuracy into tight windows, and to work through his progressions to find the ideal target.
“It was impressive,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said after his team’s 45-6 debacle. “When you sit there and watch, and you feel the operation up close and personal — you just see how sharp they are with their execution, what a dynamic playmaker he is, what a great job they do of creating conflict before the snap, changing your fits. And then on third down, they were really impressive. Just his ability to find some completions and make some plays with his legs — there’s a reason why people are talking about him as an MVP. It felt like it tonight.”
This Sunday, another NFC West defense has Jackson to deal with. The 49ers will travel to M&T Bank Stadium to try and shut Jackson down — or, at least, slow him down. On its face, San Francisco’s defense would seem to have a decent chance. The unit led by defensive coordinator Robert Saleh ranks second in the NFL in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted defensive metrics, behind only the Patriots. They rank second against the pass, and 16th against the run. San Francisco’s defensive front and linebacker corps is a quick-moving group in which everyone loves to get to the quarterback — especially rookie edge-rusher Nick Bosa, who has nine sacks, nine quarterback hits, and 36 quarterback hurries on the season, per Pro Football Focus’ metrics. The 49ers are also coming off a 37-8 Sunday night demolition of the Packers in which Aaron Rodgers and his crew couldn’t get out of first gear at all.
However, the same things that make this pass rush so formidable make the same defense vulnerable to the run — especially to specific run concepts. San Francisco ranks 13th in FO’s Defensive Adjusted Line Yards metric, and they’re not good at all against runs in the open field, ranking 25th in yards earned against runs 5-10 yards past the line of scrimmage, and 30th in yards earned beyond that.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked this week of Jackson’s success as a runner this season — he has 124 carries for 874 yards, a league-leading 7.1 yards per carry average, and six touchdowns on the ground — was the result of the NFL not yet catching up with Baltimore’s multi-faceted run game.
Shanahan had a ready answer for that.
“I don’t think it necessarily is catching up,” he said. “Just like I didn’t think the defense ever caught up with the zone-read either. It’s not a trick play. It puts guys in a bind. It makes teams play 11-on-11 football. You’ve got to decide whether you want to play 11-on-11 or if you want to keep things the same and play 10-on-11. Most people, usually the quarterback makes you pay if you play 10-on-11 when you have these type of quarterbacks. You do have to change some stuff up and then what else does that open up and how good are you at that? Eventually, you can take stuff away. Then you’ve got to balance it out and see what holes that opened up because they take it away. I Think it will be that way until the end of time. I mean, no one catches up with this stuff. It’s not a gimmick play, it’s a very sound way to run an offense and they are doing it at a very high level right now.”
So, the 49ers are aware of the problem. Even if they are able to limit him as a quarterback with their coverages, they will have to be on alert against his running abilities — and this is a specific vulnerability of Saleh’s defense. Designed quarterback runs, especially to the outside, have absolutely gashed the 49ers. In Week 11 against the Arizona Cardinals and rookie quarterback Kyler Murray this season, Murray attempted seven designed runs, six of which were to the outside. On those plays, Murray averaged 9.3 yards per play and had a 22-yard touchdown run.
The 49ers’ inability to contain Murray was obvious, and disconcerting with Jackson on the docket. The touchdown run is a graphic example.
There was also this 21-yard run, which mirrors some of Baltimore’s misdirection concepts. Teams are using San Francisco’s speed and aggressiveness against it in the run game, and it’s working.
It also worked for Seattle’s Russell Wilson the week before on this 18-yard scramble.
“We brought a five-man pressure and they blocked us up with seven and it created a lane for Russell to run through that C-gap,” Saleh said a few days later, when asked if the Wilson play represented a gap integrity issue. “The coverage we were playing on the back end caught us a little bit deeper than we wanted, and it gave him an exit lane.
“I wasn’t expecting the tight end to stay in. It was a good call by them.”
It’s a common problem, though Saleh said last week that it isn’t an overarching concern, and that Jackson brings different things to the run game.