Tag: Lamar Jackson

NFL Week 13 Power Rankings: The first Super Bowl LIV might be played on Sunday

The NFL’s unstoppable force will meet the NFL’s immovable object in December 1, when the 10-1 49ers travel to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore to take on the 9-2 Ravens. We tend to overuse the phrase “appointment viewing,” but the term fits here. No …

The NFL’s unstoppable force will meet the NFL’s immovable object in December 1, when the 10-1 49ers travel to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore to take on the 9-2 Ravens. We tend to overuse the phrase “appointment viewing,” but the term fits here.

No defense has been able to stop Lamar Jackson and the Ravens consistently throughout the 2019 season. If you manage to shut him down as a passer (an increasingly difficult proposition), he will weld your butt to the field as a runner. Baltimore’s defense has also improved exponentially since trading for cornerback Marcus Peters in mid-October; they haven’t lost since Week 4, and they’re coming off a 45-6 shellacking of the Rams on Monday Night Football.

Meanwhile, the 49ers are undefeated in regulation; their only loss on the season came against Seattle in overtime. And they just took the Packers apart on Sunday Night Football to the tune of a 37-8 demolition. San Francisco’s combination of pass rush and secondary play is unparalleled in today’s NFL, and outside of Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray, who’s put up two games with a passer rating over 100 against them, and Russell Wilson, who ran six times for 53 yards in Week 10, things get really interesting when you superimpose Jackson and Baltimore’s preposterous rushing offense into that equation.

Both teams have specific vulnerabilities that could upend them. San Francisco has allowed over 100 rushing yards in each of their last eight games, and as quickly as their fronts move, they are a bit susceptible to misdirection. Baltimore’s run defense might be the only one in the NFL more diverse than San Francisco’s, so there’s that. And if the Ravens continue their trend of blitzing heavily to create pressure (coming into Monday night’s game, Baltimore had a blitz rate of 49.9%, by far the most in the league), that may open things up for Jimmy Garoppolo and an increasingly prolific passing game.

Whatever game you were intending to watch this Sunday, if it’s not this one, you might want to change your plans. Unless you’re under the assumption that you’ll see both of these teams in Miami in February, which seems an entirely reasonable proposition.

32-25 | 24-17 | 16-9 | 8-1

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4 takeaways from the Rams’ 45-6 loss to Baltimore

The Rams were embarrassed by Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens on primetime. Here are four takeaways from the depressing outing.

The Los Angeles Rams were embarrassed on Monday Night Football by the Baltimore Ravens. It was complete opposite of last year’s barnburner on Monday Night Football against Kansas City. Here’s a few takeaways from the primetime debacle.

Rams’ defense nonexistent

It appears that something must have happened to the Rams over the past week that didn’t allow their defense to practice or come up with a game-plan to stop Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore offense. Maybe Wade Phillips just gave the team the week off. Any excuse as to why the Rams forgot to come up with a game-plan would be less embarrassing than if this was actually their game plan. 

The Ravens scored a touchdown every single time they touched the ball in the first half and Lamar Jackson completed all nine of his passes. The Rams were hopeless every time the defense touched the field.

Something also must have happened at halftime that caused the Rams to make any adjustments, because if they actually attempted to make any adjustments, they were meaningless. Baltimore scored a touchdown on their first two possessions of the second half before Lamar Jackson called it a night.

These games happen to everyone. Good teams get blown out. Bad teams get blown out. Mediocre teams get blown out. The Rams were decimated by Baltimore’s elite offense. It happens. But it certainly stings a little more when it’s on primetime and it drops your record to 6-5.

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NFL Week 12: 28 elite performances

Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and Jimmy Garoppolo starred in NFL Week 12.

Week 12 is in the books and there were great performances by Jimmy Garoppolo and Derrick Henry among others in the NFL. Oh, and there was the virtuoso effort by Lamar Jackson on MNF.

Atlanta Falcons: Younghoe Koo

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

A sweet story is how well Younghoe Koo has done for the Falcons since being signed to replace Matt Bryant. Koo added another three field goals and a PAT in the loss to the Bucs.

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See all 5 of Lamar Jackson’s TD passes against the Rams

Lamar Jackson could do nothing wrong Monday night against the Rams.

Lamar Jackson’s first appearance on Monday Night Football went pretty, pretty, pretty well.

Actually, who am I kidding? It was absolutely stunning/dominant as he threw five touchdown passes and rushed for 95 yards before departing with a 42-6 lead in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.

Jackson and the Ravens jumped on the Rams right away and never let up. They scored touchdowns on all six drives that had Jackson under center. They beat the Rams up on the line of scrimmage and then took advantage of them through the air.

Let’s take a look at Jackson’s five touchdown passes.

He opened the scoring with this pass to Hollywood Brown:

Then later in the first he connected with Brown again:

Jackson then almost ran for a nice touchdown but he was stopped just short of the goal line on this impressive run:

Jackson then found Willie Snead for TD right before halftime:

The Ravens got the ball to start the second half and Jackson did this:

And finally he shut things down with this TD pass in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter:

What a night for Jackson and the Ravens, who look absolutely unstoppable.

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Lamar Jackson threads the needle to RB Mark Ingram for another TD vs. Rams

A quick TD pass to running back Mark Ingram gives Lamar Jackson his third game with at least 4 touchdown passes.

Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense is continuing to put in the work. After scoring touchdowns on each of their drives during the first half, the Ravens just opened up the second half with a drive that ended with yet another touchdown to bring the score to 35-6.

Mark Ingram ran outside before making a quick cut in to catch a pass that Jackson squeezed in between two defenders and running it in for Jackson’s fourth touchdown pass of the night and Ingram’s second total touchdown.

This the third game this season where Jackson has thrown at least four touchdown passes, with his other efforts coming against the Miami Dolphins in Week 1 and the Houston Texans in Week 11.

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Lamar Jackson dazzles again with a 29-yard run on botched play

Lamar Jackson continues to dazzle, as he broke off a 29 yard run but couldn’t get out of his own way down to the one yard line

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has dazzled time and time again throughout his early NFL career. Seemingly every week, Jackson has been adding highlight-reel runs and throws. Week 12 against the Los Angeles Rams is definitely no exception.

Jackson initially dropped the snap on the ground. When he picked it up, he felt pressure and took off running with open field ahead of him. Weaving in and out of defenders down the field, Jackson got tripped up by the turf and rolled to the goal line.

This shows just how electric Jackson is and how he affects the defenses. The Rams came into this game trying to contain Jackson from running around them. But with the running backs picking up yards inside and Jackson starting the game perfect through the air, Los Angeles backed off to try and stop getting beat by Jackson’s arm. It left the middle of the field wide open and a huge hole for Jackson to run through. Once in the open field, Jackson is nearly unstoppable.

It didn’t matter that Jackson couldn’t finish the job himself, as Mark Ingram pounded the ball into the end zone on the very next play.

As Jackson continues to rack up highlight plays, Baltimore’s offense continues to rack up points. The Ravens are dominating the Rams in every facet of the game, and if this continues, we might see Jackson resting on the sideline for another fourth quarter.

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Lamar Jackson once again makes NFL history as dual-threat QB

With his performance as a runner and a passer, Lamar Jackson now has his own spot in the NFL record books in just his second season.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has been a nightmare for defenses this season. If he’s not burning them with his legs, he’s lighting them up with his arm. His dual-threat ability has made him the front-runner for MVP and in the lead among Pro Bowl voting. As if all of Jackson’s highlights aren’t enough to impress even the most ardent of deniers, he’s once again done something no NFL player has done before.

Jackson is the first player to have 3,000-plus passing yards and 1,500-plus rushing yards in his first two seasons. And to think . . . Jackson only started seven games last year and we’re only in Week 12 of his second season.

The Ravens have allowed Jackson to thrive by building an entire offense around him and the results have been evident since he made his very first start as a rookie. Baltimore was running all over opponents last year and this year they paired it up with a potent passing game now that he’s had an entire summer to work on his throwing mechanics. He’s not the traditional NFL quarterback but he’s getting the job done and more every week. If the defenders that he’s humiliated week after week aren’t proof enough, now the fact that he’s got a place in the NFL record books can.

And Jackson still isn’t done. He could very well set another NFL record by topping Michael Vick’s record of 1,039 rushing yards in a single season, as well as becoming the first quarterback to have 3,000-plus passing yards and 1,00-plus rushing yards in the same season.

Jackson has been every bit the player that the Ravens were hoping for when they traded back into the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft to select him. He’s been making every defense he’s played look foolish and now that he’s earned himself a place in NFL history, he’s making his doubters look foolish as well.

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Lamar Jackson embarrassed the Rams with a near-perfect first half

The Rams put together one of their worst first halves in recent memory.

The Rams needed to come out on Monday night and punch the Ravens in the mouth. Instead, they were the ones who suffered the first blow – and the second, third and fourth.

In the first half against the Ravens, the Rams were absolutely embarrassed by Lamar Jackson and Baltimore’s offense. The Ravens struck quickly with a touchdown on their first drive. The Rams couldn’t answer, so Baltimore added a touchdown on its second possession, too.

Finally, the Rams got on the board to make it 14-3, but the Ravens doubled that margin before halftime, going up 28-6 on Jackson’s third touchdown of the night.

He finished the first 30 minutes of the game going 9-for-9 passing with 87 yards and three touchdowns, good for a passer rating of 146.5. On the ground, he added another 80 yards on just six carries, including a 29-yarder to set up Mark Ingram’s touchdown run.

He wasn’t the only one running all over the Rams, either. Ingram had 58 yards on eight carries, Justice Hill added 18 yards on three carries and Gus Edwards had 17 yards on three attempts. In total, the Ravens rushed for 173 yards, which is more than the Rams have allowed in any game this season.

Baltimore scored touchdowns on all four of its first-half possessions, making this just the ninth time since 1996 that the Rams allowed at least 28 points before the half.

Rams fans on Twitter were not thrilled about the start to this game, while others reacted in awe of Jackson.

Lamar Jackson hits Hollywood Brown in Hollywood for their 2nd TD vs. Rams

The Baltimore Ravens are out to a 14-0 lead against the Los Angeles Rams due to the second touchdown connection between Jackson and Brown

One play after center Matt Skura went down with an apparent leg injury, quarterback Lamar Jackson came back and delivered a play that lifted everyone’s spirits against the Los Angeles Rams.

Jackson found receiver Marquise Brown for an 18-yard touchdown strike. Brown was sent right down the middle of the field, splitting the secondary. It left him wide open for one of the easier touchdown catches he’ll get. It helped put Baltimore out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

The Ravens have been pounding the ball down the Rams’ throats to start this game. It’s forced Los Angeles to keep an eye in the backfield. But with Jackson being perfect through the air, looking off defenders to open up passing lanes, this touchdown pass showed Baltimore’s offense can beat teams in multiple ways.

The Jackson-to-Brown connection has been strong throughout the season. Brown now has his second multi-touchdown game in his rookie campaign. It highlights the youthful offensive connection that looks to be a dominant force in the NFL.

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Watch: Ravens strike first with Lamar Jackson TD pass

A quick throw to Marquise “Hollywood” Brown has the Baltimore Ravens up early against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 12

The Baltimore Ravens have been kings of starting fast this season, scoring a touchdown on their opening drive more often than not in the 10 games this season. So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise they’ve done it against this week against the Los Angeles Rams.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson capped off a 55-yard drive with an easy five-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Marquise Brown on a quick slant.

The Ravens started out with excellent field position after De’Anthony Thomas returned a Rams punt to the 45-yard line. A few big runs from Mark Ingram and Jackson got the Ravens down into the red zone, where Brown was able to get wide open for an easy score.

The Baltimore Ravens offense has been red hot this season, in large part because of the dynamic trio of Jackson at quarterback, Ingram at running back, and Brown at wide receiver.

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