Lamar Jackson has a easy philosophy in the case of avoiding harm.
“Just don’t get hit,” he stated Tuesday. “That’s all I know.”
Easier stated than accomplished. Each of the previous two years, the Ravens quarterback has suffered season-ending leg accidents. The first occurred on Dec. 12, 2021, in Week 13 towards the Cleveland Browns when linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah introduced Jackson down by his ankles as he scrambled away from stress. The subsequent occurred on Dec. 12 final yr — in Week 12 towards the Denver Broncos — after outdoors linebacker Jonathan Cooper sacked Jackson from behind, leading to a knee harm.
Thursday night time, the Ravens and their $260 million star obtained one other scare.
Late within the first quarter of Baltimore’s eventual 34-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Jackson scrambled towards the sideline on a third-and-4 from the Ravens’ 37-yard line and threw an underhanded go that fell incomplete as he was dropped at the bottom by Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson. Jackson stayed down for a couple of harrowing moments — Baltimore had already misplaced tight finish Mark Andrews earlier within the recreation on an identical sort out by Wilson — and was checked out by trainers earlier than getting up on his personal and hobbling to the bench. He then disappeared into the crew’s blue medical tent however emerged rapidly, giving a thumbs-up and returning on the following sequence with out lacking a play.
After the sport, teammates and coaches praised Jackson for his toughness, with coach John Harbaugh saying the best way he bounced again was “impressive,” and broad receiver Odell Beckham Jr. calling his going proper again within the recreation a “big leadership moment.”
But there have been additionally questions, given the play and given Jackson’s eerie historical past of getting his season reduce brief after 12 video games every of the previous two years. When requested in regards to the heating pad wrapped round his ankle on the bench, Jackson, maybe realizing he’d simply accomplished his eleventh recreation of the season, wasn’t having it.
“We need to stop talking about this ankle,” he stated, knocking his knuckles on the picket podium. “I’m good. You see I just walked up here. I’m good. We’re not going to talk none of it into existence. I’m good.”
Five days later, that was nonetheless the case.
“I’m good,” stated Jackson, smiling and jogging in place when requested how his ankle was feeling. “I’m 100%.”
The identical can’t be stated for a number of the different first-string quarterbacks across the AFC North.
Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson’s season is over after he suffered a displaced fracture in his proper shoulder throughout Cleveland’s Week 10 win over the Ravens. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, in the meantime, suffered a season-ending ligament tear in his proper wrist within the second quarter towards Baltimore.
That leaves simply Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett and Jackson because the final beginning quarterbacks standing within the division.
“I’m not happy that those guys got injured,” Jackson stated when requested to make sense of the 2 quarterbacks having their seasons finish inside days of one another. “I don’t wish to see [anybody] within the league get injured, particularly a season-ending harm as a result of these guys must feed their households similar to I do.
“Even though we’re going against each other, division rivals, stuff like that, at the end of the day, I don’t want to see anybody go down with a season-ending injury.”
That Jackson hasn’t suffered an identical destiny this season is perhaps half serendipity, half having discovered from previous experiences.
A giant a part of what makes the 26-year-old former NFL Most Valuable Player so dynamic and tough to defend is his skill to run. But that’s additionally what makes him most weak.
Through the primary 11 video games of this season, he’s taken his share of pictures. Already, he’s been sacked 27 instances, or simply 11 shy of his career-high complete in 2021 — when he suffered a season-ending ankle harm. He has additionally run for 535 yards on 101 carries, which has at instances put him in hurt’s means on quite a lot of events.
That’s soccer, however is there an artwork to studying keep away from an enormous blow?
The Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa, who suffered a number of concussions final season, spent a part of his offseason learning jiu-jitsu, a sport through which falling is a ability.
While Jackson’s and Tagovailoa’s accidents had been vastly completely different, the Dolphins quarterback has not missed any video games this season and has been one of many league’s greatest quarterbacks, with 2,934 yards passing and 21 touchdowns with eight interceptions. He missed 4 video games with concussions final yr.
Jackson, likewise, has stayed on the sector and never missed a snap, although his strategy has been a tad less complicated.
“I’ll say I don’t slide, but I get down,” he stated. “I get under hits; I’ll say that, but that’s it, I guess.”
With seven video games remaining, the AFC’s greatest document and Super Bowl aspirations, the Ravens hope he continues to take action.
One factor that received’t make it simple is the following two months. Based on defense-adjusted worth over common (DVOA), Baltimore has the NFL’s hardest remaining schedule with video games towards the Chargers, Rams, Jaguars, 49ers, Dolphins and Steelers. Among that group, Jackson will face a number of the league’s greatest defenses and prime go rushers, together with the Rams’ Aaron Donald, San Fransisco’s Chase Young and Nick Bosa, Miami’s Bradley Chubb, and Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt.
He’ll additionally attempt to heed his personal recommendation. Said Jackson once more: “Don’t get hit.”
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com