[stupac2]

What the hell happened to Lamar Jackson and the Ravens?

BC

This is something that I've been thinking about that offense all year and virtually never saw talked about: it just can't come back from a big deficit. They've done a very good job playing to Lamar's strengths and hiding his weaknesses, but when you're offense is predicated upon running the ball, throws to tight ends, and the occasional bomb off a busted coverage on play action or breakaway run by a very fast QB, you can't intentionally score quickly. Couple that with an attacking defense designed to force turnovers and large negative plays, but that's not all that sound otherwise, and you're just screwed against a powerful running team that builds an early lead. During their winning streak Baltimore never went down big, and earlier in the year the couple times they did this year they lost.

Tennessee's defenders were pretty public about their plan after the game: clog the middle and force Lamar to throw deep and to the sides. It's not his strength, it never has been, and for most of the year that didn't matter because they were leading in games. But when you're trailing the opponent is positively giddy to give you 4-6 ypc between the 20's, because the clock is your enemy. I saw a tweet (that I can't find right now) that showed how many drives the Ravens had that ended in Tennessee territory, and it was like 8, but they scored 12 points. It was a masterful defensive performance against a type of offense that looks unstoppable when it's working but is very flawed.

I'm bummed I never put this down anywhere, but I had them pegged as one-and-done since I found out they were resting starters in week 17. This team just screamed "Peyton's Colts" to me, regular season monster, playoff paper tiger.

[stupac2]

What the hell happened to Lamar Jackson and the Ravens?

BC

This is something that I've been thinking about that offense all year and virtually never saw talked about: it just can't come back from a big deficit. They've done a very good job playing to Lamar's strengths and hiding his weaknesses, but when you're offense is predicated upon running the ball, throws to tight ends, and the occasional bomb off a busted coverage on play action or breakaway run by a very fast QB, you can't intentionally score quickly. Couple that with an attacking defense designed to force turnovers and large negative plays, but that's not all that sound otherwise, and you're just screwed against a powerful running team that builds an early lead. During their winning streak Baltimore never went down big, and earlier in the year the couple times they did this year they lost.

Tennessee's defenders were pretty public about their plan after the game: clog the middle and force Lamar to throw deep and to the sides. It's not his strength, it never has been, and for most of the year that didn't matter because they were leading in games. But when you're trailing the opponent is positively giddy to give you 4-6 ypc between the 20's, because the clock is your enemy. I saw a tweet (that I can't find right now) that showed how many drives the Ravens had that ended in Tennessee territory, and it was like 8, but they scored 12 points. It was a masterful defensive performance against a type of offense that looks unstoppable when it's working but is very flawed.

I'm bummed I never put this down anywhere, but I had them pegged as one-and-done since I found out they were resting starters in week 17. This team just screamed "Peyton's Colts" to me, regular season monster, playoff paper tiger.