The Bills came into their divisional round game against the Ravens with a very clear plan — play zone against Lamar Jackson, and combine it with pressure.
Bills ran zone coverage on 87% of Lamar Jackson's pass attempts in the first half.
Bills ran 56% zone in the regular season.
(ESPN/NGS)
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) January 17, 2021
The plan has worked marvelously so far. Through the end of the third quarter, Jackson completed just 14 of 24 passes for 162 yards, no touchdowns, and one very long interception — a 101-yard pick-six from Bills cornerback Taron Johnson.
TARON JOHNSON PICK SIX‼️
📺 #BALvsBUF: https://t.co/VqXMJDH1vI pic.twitter.com/WjuPWerVod
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 17, 2021
The pick-six ties Green Bay’s George Teague for the longest in postseason history — Teague did it against the Lions and quarterback Erik Kramer in a 28-24 win in the wild-card round on January 8, 1994. (Packers fans will remember this as the “Favre-to-Sharpe Game).”
It’s not the first pick six Johnson has this season, and maybe Jackson should have phoned Ben Roethlisberger and asked his advice about avoiding Johnson jumping the route. Because Johnson has a history of doing that and taking it to the house.
Really nice play design on Taron Johnson’s pick-six against the Steelers. "Inverted pyramid” against bunch left, make it look like man but pass it off as zone, and give Johnson the back cover to jump the route to JuJu Smith-Schuster. Boom. pic.twitter.com/R88GY1AOnK
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) December 16, 2020