Baltimore Ravens: 3 things we learned against Bengals
By Andrew Kim
Lamar Jackson leads the Baltimore Ravens back into the playoff race for a Wildcard spot and could start in Week 12
Lamar Jackson had a decent debut and was great on the ground but improvement is needed in the passing game.
Even though the 27 carries Jackson had in this game included three kneel downs and three quarterback sneaks (which broke the record in carries for any quarterback in history), the usage of Jackson in the ground game is not sustainable for his health long term as the future at the quarterback position.
The rookie first-round pick from Louisville went 13-of-19 passing for 150 yards but most of those passes were short passes. He had one bad mistake with the interception but he was relatively accurate in the low number of passing attempts he got with a run-oriented game plan.
The main receivers in the passing game, other than Willie Snead (who had five catches for 51 yards), were barely used as both John Brown and Michael Crabtree had only one catch each.
Snead and Crabtree were even seen arguing with John Harbaugh on the sideline due to the lack of targets. Chris Moore had only one catch as well as he bailed out Jackson on a pass that was thrown behind him but brought it in with great concentration. Overall, the passing game should get better as Jackson continues to practice as the starter for next week.
I think the gameplan was tethered for him this week and I expect the offense to open up next week as he should start with Joe Flacco out with a hip injury.
Against the Oakland Raiders, I expect Jackson to throw it more than 20 times and push the ball downfield against a porous Raiders defense. Jackson can prove a lot of doubters wrong if he can air it out more next week as he has the targets to spread the ball around at wide receiver and tight end with more experience as the starting quarterback.