Baltimore Ravens: Lamar Jackson was indeed the Patriots’ kryptonite
By Sean Basile
With a huge win on Sunday Night Football, Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens shot themselves into great position for the rest of the season
As it turns out, Lamar Jackson was indeed the New England Patriots‘ kryptonite as the Baltimore Ravens trounced the Pats on Sunday Night Football in Week 9, 37-20, to knock off one of two remaining undefeated teams.
There was so much going against the Ravens on Sunday night historically. The Pats have only lost in Baltimore once in their history and had been victorious in 10 of 13 meetings with the Ravens. Then there was also the Bill Belichick effect where another one of his defenses was going up against a young, second-year quarterback for the third-straight week.
We saw how badly Belichick and the Pats defense took apart Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield the previous two weeks. Surely, Jackson was going to be the latest victim of the Patriot machine.
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But you know what, I think what we saw last night was proof that Lamar Jackson is a legitimate quarterback in this league. No, he’s not the best pure thrower of the football. Yes, he’s wildly inaccurate at times from the pocket. We also have to consider the fact that he still has only had a handful of starts and hasn’t seen very many teams twice.
However, looking at what he’s done — great coaching from John Harbaugh aside — Jackson just beat the undefeated Patriots with a historic top-ranked defense handily. He also went up to Seattle two weeks ago and completely outplayed Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.
Jackson is 12-4 as the starter for the Ravens and continues to show progression and evolvement of his leadership and commitment to winning.
Looking ahead, he has two particular matchups I’m looking forward to seeing. One is in Week 11 against Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans. The other is in Week 13 against Jimmy Garoppolo and the now undefeated San Francisco 49ers. Both of those games are in Baltimore and, as of right now, those could very well be two wins for the Ravens.
What Jackson is doing this season, leading the No. 1 rushing team and putting up 100+ yards in both the pass and run in three games already, makes him a sneaky MVP candidate to keep an eye on. Now he has two huge wins against two of the best quarterbacks in NFL history in Tom Brady and Russell Wilson. If he can continue on this run, watch for Jackson to be at the top of the heap in the MVP race by the end of the season.
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In terms of sustainability, no, Jackson’s style of quarterbacking isn’t conducive to a long illustrious career. But he might just be the guy to pull it off if he can stay healthy and continue to win games at the rate he already is.