Quote:
Originally Posted by staylor26
Lamar Jackson sure does get his dick sucked quite a bit for a guy that’s choked two year in a row in the playoffs.
Could you imagine if Mahomes were 0-2 in the playoffs and they were the 2 worst games of his career?
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At this point I'm willing to grant Lamar this:
He has an incredible W-L (regular season) record. Prior to him taking over, the Ravens did NOT have a great W-L (regular season) record under Flacco, and people were talking about Harbaugh losing his job at the end of the year.
I honestly chalk this up to Lamar playing very Alex Smithy. No, they're not the same player at all, but in terms of the formula for managing a game and racking up regular season wins even if there are imperfections to your surrounding team? Absolutely. Take care of the football (Lamar does a pretty good job of that, actually) be efficient on offense (safe to say that they are) and if he's got the wheels, your QB can do great things for you by scrambling when things are locked up in coverage. Those are all things Joe Flacco was NOT doing prior to Lamar taking over, and it's why the Ravens found a lot of success immediately after they benched Flacco in Lamar's rookie season, even if Lamar at the time was barely more effective than Tyler Palko as a passer.
I also know Lamar isn't some Baker Mayfield choad who doesn't put in the time. He's improved as a passer since he took over the starting job, and that's not at all something to sneeze at. It's really tough to improve at something like that in the pros. No, I'm not talking about technical things like footwork and understanding coverages and all that other stuff just about every young QB improves at when they get in the league. I mean that Lamar improved his deep ball accuracy significantly, and he reduced the number of short-mid throws that sail on him dramatically. Deshaun Watson still has that problem.
But... yeah, we all know what comes next, though. That's winning football for the regular season. In the playoffs you can win with that if things go your way.... if the defense is crap, that is. Or if the opposing offense can't get the ball moving at all. Tennessee had a decent defense and by the end of the season with Tannehill they found their own efficiency on offense, and that's why they were able to play ball control against Lamar. Because as good as the Ravens were at scoring points on offense, they couldn't do it quickly if the defense didn't give it to them. Lamar couldn't do it quickly. Hell, Lamar couldn't score at all, basically.
So as much as I like to throw shade at Lamar, he's not terrible. Hell, I'll even say he's quite good. And he could still improve and probably will. But he is a CLEAR step behind Patrick Mahomes, and I don't know if he will ever catch up. Hell, he's a clear step behind Russell Wilson, too, and while Aaron Rodgers was doing nothing more than torching a brand new practically all-rookie secondary in Minnesota last week, he looked pretty damn good as well, and certainly from his prime is a much much much more valuable QB to lead your team than Lamar.
It's possible to win a Super Bowl with Lamar Jackson as your QB. But it's an uphill battle, and if you choose that route, you better be stacked as a team. It appears the Ravens have a lot of great players to do that, but until they beat Mahomes, they're 2nd place and not good enough.