Lamar Jackson 2021 outlook Flashes from Ravens QBs third year and what he must do to regain MVP form
Lamar Jackson 2021 outlook Flashes from Ravens QBs third year and what he must do to regain MVP form
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and the weren't able to rekindle the magic of 2019 last season yet still advanced to the divisional round of the playoffs where their limited offense disallowed them from moving on to the next round in the postseason. While it demonstrated how high the bar has been set in Baltimore, the lo s in Buffalo served as a reminder that the Ravens needed to be better as a pa sing offense to hang with the and in the AFC.With the fate of the Ravens firmly in Jackson's hands, let's explore everything about his environment in Baltimore and pinpoint what he needs to do to take the next step as a quarterback.Previous installments in this young QB outlook project:,,,,,, These positive developments in a quarterback's game are noteworthy because they indicate the distinct po sibility of future growth. I was higher on Jackson than most. While he was my QB2, I had him as the . Here's what I wrote about Jackson before Georges Niang Jersey the draft.Jackson's the true wildcard of this quarterback cla s because of his Michael Vickian running ability. He's significantly improved as a pa ser, and while he had some bad mi ses last season and seemed confused by diverse coverages at times, he also threw some of the most pinpoint accurate pa ses down the field through tight windows of all the quarterbacks I watched and had plays with mastery-level pocket drifting. After phenomenal running of the football in his short audition as the Ravens starter in 2018, we all vividly remember Jackson's dominant play from his second season in the NFL, when he became the second ever unanimous MVP, completing over 66% of his throws with a league-high 36 touchdowns, a 7.8 yards-per-attempt average and 1,206 yards on the ground at 6.9 yards per rush.In that MVP season, I did think Jackson's pa sing wasn't as impre sive as the figures -- lot of easy, schemed open throws -- but it proved he was a capable thrower of the football, just like he showed at Louisville.It's safe to a sume the analytics-forward Ravens understand they must boost their pa sing efficiency. They signed in free agency and drafted complete wideout in the first round. Third-round pick is a mountain of man and enters the NFL from the power-blocking factory that is the University of Georgia today. He'll help to improve the play of the guard position. , formerly of the rival, was added to make sure the quality of the right tackle spot wouldn't fall off a cliff after the surprising trade. Following years of being a reliable outside blocker in Pittsburgh, Villanueva had a down year in 2020 and turns 33 in September.Gone is in the slot. Youngsters like fourth-round pick , and second-year prosand will be relied upon as secondary and tertiary options in what should be a pa sing offense that is more featured than it's previously been during the Greg Roman era.In short -- Baltimore noticeably improved the pa s-catching options for Jackson, but the offensive line is still a work in progre s to return to the premier unit it was in 2019. Jackson operates Roman's cla sic scheme, an offense tailor-made to pound the rock and accentuate strengths of a supremely gifted running quarterback. While the history of Roman's attacks boast triumphs -- like 2012 who was four points away from winning a Super Bowl or getting the most out of in Buffalo -- they've lacked staying power. And that's precisely what happened in 2020 after running through the entire NFL in 2019 during Jackson's MVP campaign. Roman's offense is predicated on a powerful, man-blocking front, creative designed-run game usage for its quarterback and traditionally low-volume pa sing.After retirement, Baltimore simply was unable to physically manhandle opposing defensive lines and second-level defenders last season. But the Ravens are still going to run it well, and run it often. They've led the league in rushing yards in back-to-back seasons. However, we all know moving the football via the ground game isn't as efficient as through the air. And Baltimore had the NFL's lowest pa s rate (45% of its offensive Grayson Allen Jersey snaps) in 2020. Those plays averaged 7.1 yards per attempt, while the Ravens averaged 5.6 yards on every rush. In 2020, Jackson and Baltimore regre sed in almost every measurable way. But the third-year quarterback still finished the season with a pa ser rating of 99.3 -- slightly above league average -- and again eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark on the ground at better than six yards per rushing attempt.The downturn in offensive production wasn't really on him. There wasn't a clear dip in his play as a pa ser, regardle s of which angle you observed it. The regre sion was more about the situation around him, defenses having a better grasp on how to limit Roman's offense, and because the insanely high 9.0% touchdown rate from 2019 was simply unsustainable and more about exquisite scheming than remarkable individual play from Jackson.His pre sure rate sky-rocketed from 30.1% of the time in 2019 to 37.0% in 2020, and while Jackson fared similarly against that pre sure in his third season -- a good sign -- it did have a minor negative impact on him, and the damage it caused is worth monitoring in 2021. When he won MVP, Jackson was credited with the creation of his own pre sure on just nine of 466 drop backs, an amazingly low figure for a quarterback with his athleticism and scrambling gifts. That's a rate of 1.9%. Last year, that number doubled to 18 Jackson-generated pre sures on 457 drop backs (3.9%).Now, of course, that disparity is mostly insignificant because it accounts for le s than 5% of times when Jackson dropped back to throw the football, but it indicated the increased pre sure had an impact on his brain much more often, and probably even on the throws in which he didn't run into pre sure that previously wasn't there. It's what I call "young QB shellshock," and it can be severely harmful in the development proce s.E sentially, Jackson needs to get more comfortable surveying from inside the pocket for a second or two longer, so he's not hurting his offensive line or mi sing big-play opportunities through the air because he prematurely looks to run. I firmly believe Jackson needs to continue to run the football. He's too young and too dynamic to conform to the vintage pocket-pa sing prototype. He can be a good pa ser in the NFL. Will he ever be an elite thrower? Probably not. But solid pocket play coupled with his threatening running talent can elevate him to, yeah, MVP-caliber type play.He's averaged 167.5 rushing attempts in his first two full seasons at quarterback, and to account for more pa sing attempts the Ravens offense needs, somewhere in the 125 to 150 carry range seems right for someone of Jackson's athletic caliber.And, it's time to take the reins off Jackson as a pa ser. Stop limiting the offense because of an immense belief in how good the run game is and a lack of confidence in him as a thrower and the receivers on the roster. I'm not a huge extrapolation fan, but had Jackson thrown the football 500 times in 2020 -- 15 quarterback had more attempts -- a suming his rates would've stayed the same, he would've finished with 3,650 yards, 34 pa sing touchdowns and 12 interceptions. That's a much more respectable line for a full-time starter in today's NFL.Jackson will bounce back in 2021. Not to MVP form. But there'll be more MVP-like instances this season than a season ago, and most of that will be due to a strengthened receiver group.I'm slightly concerned about the state of the Ravens offensive line, yet the return of monster left tackle will boost the overall play of the unit. If Villanueva can come close to the ultra-steady production Brown demonstrated in 2019, Jackson could exceed my expectations. Jackson's running will be ... Jackson's running. Electric. And for his sake, let's hope Roman was humbled by what transpired in 2020 and doesn't shy away from leaning more on the pa s this season.By the end of the year, I Dante Exum Jersey expect Jackson to be widely viewed as a top-eight to top-10 quarterback.
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