The Most Valuable Player of last season, excited to be even better this 2020
BALTIMORE – As in the first game last season, Lamar Jackson made the Baltimore Ravens.
Once again, Lamar Jackson he pitched for multiple touchdowns, completed nearly every pitch and finished with a near-perfect passer rating.
But the performance of Lamar Jackson in Sunday’s 38-6 season opener win over the Cleveland Browns, went beyond the numbers. After a touchdown pass deflected to tight end Mark Andrews In the opening series, Jackson divided the Browns with precision, constantly putting more touch on the ball and putting it where it needed to be.
Does Jackson think he’s a better passer than last year? “Yeah,” said Jackson, who completed 20-25 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns. “Just dedication.”
Here are three ways Jackson improved as a passer:
Narrow windows
Jackson made three of four shots at the tight window Sunday. Came to a Marquise Brown well covered on a perfectly thrown 47-yard shot. Last year, it completed 31% of those launches. The key is that Jackson is pitching to specific areas and not targets.
“It’s much more accurate,” said ‘Hollywood’. “Now it’s our job to get to that place because that’s where he’s putting it.”
Deeper pitches
One of Jackson’s biggest goals was to drive the ball further down the field. Jackson did just that against the Browns, hitting 9 of 10 for 180 yards on passes of 10 yards or more, including a 19-yard touchdown pass to Willie Snead (who traveled 18 yards in the air). That’s the most completions in a game in the career of Jackson. Last season, Jackson completed just 49.2% of passes over 10 yards, ranking 19th in the NFL.
“Lamar Jackson he just played a phenomenal game, “said coach John Harbaugh. “He just played a high-level game in every way, and I think it was probably the biggest difference in the game.”
Screen passes
Jackson was a perfect 10 of 10 for 128 yards of screen passes in the game against Cleveland, including his five-yard touchdown pass to Andrews in the first quarter. That tied the most complete games with these types of plays in the career of Jackson. Last season, Jackson completed 65.1% of Play Action attempts, ranking 22nd in the NFL.
“The misconception in our offense is that we are just a team that runs first,” Andrews said. “We have shown time and again that we can throw the ball. We use the running game to do it. We are going to be dangerous in the air game ”.
Jackson He exploded in the first game last year, when he threw for 324 yards and five touchdowns at Miami. After that, the Ravens set the NFL season-long rushing record and Jackson finished 22nd with 3,127 passing yards.
But there is a different feel this year and a difference in the way Jackson throws the ball. You’ll have a chance to take advantage of that in Week 2 against the Houston Texans, who allowed three touchdown passes to Patrick mahomes in Week 1 and gave up the fourth-most passing yards last season.
“For me, he is obviously the best player in the world,” Andrews said. “His arm reflects that.”
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