In the Ravens’ house opener in opposition to the Miami Dolphins, quarterback Lamar Jackson was all the things and extra.
He dazzled together with his arm, utilizing pinpoint accuracy to finish 21 of 29 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns. He dazzled together with his legs, speeding for 119 yards and a landing on 9 carries to set the NFL report for probably the most 100-yard speeding video games by a quarterback with 11, surpassing former Atlanta Falcons star Michael Vick.
Jackson, nonetheless, mentioned the report “doesn’t mean anything if we’re not winning.”
Jackson had one among his greatest video games as a professional, however when the clock hit zero on the Ravens’ beautiful 42-38 defeat at M&T Bank Stadium, wherein Miami overcame a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit, the 2019 NFL Most Valuable Player was merely not sufficient for the Ravens to win.
“We’ve just got to finish,” Jackson mentioned. “We were up 21 or something like that. They didn’t let that define them; they kept playing. That’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to finish when we’re up. This is the NFL. [We’ve got to] keep doing what we’re doing to put the points on the board. That was a good team win for them, though.”
Jackson’s first half was almost excellent. Early within the second quarter, he zipped a move over the center to second-year extensive receiver Rashod Bateman, who obtained inside star cornerback Xavien Howard and sped to the tip zone for a 75-yard landing that gave the Ravens a 14-7 benefit with 10:44 left.
On the subsequent drive, Jackson accomplished a 26-yard move to tight finish Mark Andrews, and after a evaluation known as him down on the 1-yard line, the pair related on the subsequent play for a 21-7 lead.
Jackson wasn’t completed. Just earlier than halftime, he threaded a ball by way of a pair of Miami defenders to extensive receiver Demarcus Robinson, who got here away with a 12-yard landing seize. Jackson ended the primary half with an ideal passer ranking (11-for-13 for 210 yards and three touchdowns) and appeared to have solved the Dolphins’ Cover 0 blitzes that caught him off guard in final yr’s loss in Miami Gardens, Florida.
“To his credit, he took advantage,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel mentioned. “He definitely rectified and can put to bed these issues he had last year.”
Jackson starred together with his arm, simply as he did in a Week 1 victory over the New York Jets, however on Sunday he additionally did it together with his legs — regardless of including almost 20 kilos to his body within the offseason. No play was extra electrifying than his 79-yard landing run, the longest of his profession, that gave Baltimore a 35-14 lead with 38 seconds left within the third quarter.
It made Jackson the primary participant in NFL historical past to have a passing landing and a speeding landing of a minimum of 75 yards in the identical recreation.
However, as Jackson watched the Dolphins rating 28 factors within the fourth quarter, he nonetheless wanted a minimum of yet another scoring drive to fight Miami’s comeback.
The Ravens have been held to solely three factors within the fourth quarter — Jackson accomplished a pair of 16-yard passes to arrange a Justin Tucker 51-yard discipline objective — however they failed to achieve the tip zone within the second half and have been outgained 381-185.
“It came down to the fourth quarter; they were putting points on the board [and] we weren’t,” Jackson mentioned. “We put three points on the board, probably in the fourth quarter. So, we’ve got to just finish. They played their tail off, though. They didn’t let … What was it? We were up 21 or something like that. They didn’t let that define them; they kept playing.”
Even although the Ravens’ protection will take the blame for the second-half meltdown, permitting Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to throw for 469 yards and 6 touchdowns, Jackson felt he had simply as a lot of a job in one of many greatest comebacks in NFL historical past.
He was annoyed in regards to the presnap fumble on fourth-and-inches on the objective line within the second quarter, whereas the Ravens solely totaled 89 yards and went 0-for-4 on third down within the fourth.
“I thought we did some really good things in the run game, Lamar breaking that big touchdown off, and just being efficient throughout the whole game,” mentioned Andrews, who caught 9 passes for 104 yards and a landing. “We weren’t able to get it done toward the end of the game, but that’s what we’re going to work on.”
Week 3
RAVENS@PATRIOTS
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Ch. 45
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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Source: www.bostonherald.com