Baltimore Ravens: Too much pressure on Lamar Jackson or not enough?

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is struggling in the 2020 NFL season.

In the NFL, it takes roughly three years to know if you’ll make it or break it as a star player. And right now, that’s the exact trial that Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is going through in his third year.

Lamar Jackson in 2019 was the representation of dominance in professional sports. Jackson completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 3,127 yards, 36 touchdowns and six interceptions while shattering the record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single season with 1,206 yards on 176 attempts with seven scores. This was enough to be selected into the Pro Bowl, earn First-Team All-Pro honors and be crowned NFL MVP.

What makes it so difficult to emerge as a star in the NFL is that, once someone has a breakout year, everyone has the film now. Every defensive coordinator knows how they throw the ball, how long they take to throw it, who they look to throw to, when they look to run, and so on.

What makes quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson so incredible is that, even with all of the information in the world on them, they can’t be stopped.

If people are really going to consider Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson as a legitimate top-three player at the position, then he needs to get out of this slump he’s in during the 2020 season and figure it out. Because there’s nowhere near the amount of pressure on him that he deserves right now. There are players with far lesser expectations getting grilled right now than him.

Lamar Jackson deserves to be under more pressure with the Baltimore Ravens.

Yes, the Ravens are sitting snug at 6-2 in the standings but Jackson has reached the 200 passing yards mark in just three of eight games during the 2020 NFL season. You cannot be mentioned in the same breathe as the other guys above with those statistics.

Meanwhile, he’s surpassed double-digit rush attempts in just as many games. Lamar Jackson currently leads the team in rushing attempts (79), rushing yards (469) and fumbles (6). His rushing stats are better than his passing and he’s a quarterback. That’s abhorrent.

Being a dual-threat quarterback in today’s NFL is imperative for the success of the team as it creates the constant threat of being able to move the chains with your feet when the opposing defense is able to lockdown the wide receivers.

However, as a quarterback, when you’re almost running the ball more than you’re throwing it, you’re no longer a quarterback; you’re a running back who can also throw. The first instinct at this pivotal position is to throw first, run second. For Jackson right now, it’s run first, throw second.

Make no mistake, Jackson is an incredible athlete. He’s able to do everything at an insanely high level. But for a guy that everyone is touting to be one of the best at his position in the NFL right now, there’s nothing to support it.

The three games in which he’s thrown for 200+ yards came against the Cleveland Browns in the 38-6 win during Week 1 (80 percent completion rate, 275 yards, three touchdowns), the execrable Houston Texans in their 33-16 win in Week 2 (75 percent 204-1) and the Ravens’ 28-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 8 (46.43 percent, 208-2-2).

In every other game, he’s thrown fewer than 200 yards, with his fewest in the Ravens 34-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs (53.57 percent, 97-1).

One good year doesn’t make a player the best. It doesn’t matter if they’re titled the MVP or get on the cover of Madden. It takes consecutive seasons of strong performances to show that a player is the real deal.

In year one as a starter, Patrick Mahomes was the league’s MVP and was one play shy of being in the Super Bowl. He came back the next season and not only won a Lombardi Trophy but was crowned Super Bowl MVP in doing so. Now in 2020, Mahomes is, once again, in serious contention for league MVP as he gears to defend the Kansas City Chiefs’ title.

If we’re really going to put the title of being one of the best in the NFL on Lamar Jackson’s shoulders, then these are the expectations that are going to follow. Head coach John Harbaugh has talored this team to around the young quarterback. Jackson has an elite defense behind him and elite weapons to use around him going forward.

Forget making a deep playoff run; if Lamar Jackson doesn’t reach the 200-yard mark as a passer in five of the remaining eight games of the 2020 NFL season, he doesn’t deserve any praise whatsoever. At the end of the day, you need to be able to throw the ball as the quarterback. And what he’s shown thus far leaves everyone dubious of his ability in that aspect.