Lamar Jackson may have changed the narrative of his career in one play.
There are very few players who can alter the trajectory of their career with one play. 2019 NFL MVP Lamar Jackson is one of those players.
We saw eye-popping plays early in Jackson’s career. In high school, he went viral on Vine when he came to a halt at the goal line allowing a defender to go flying in front of him. In college, he jumped over a man en route to the end zone and a Heisman trophy. Then, In 2019, he put an oncoming defender in a blender on the way to a long rushing touchdown.
Jackson is good for at least one highlight reel type of play in every game. One could spend hours admiring his work on YouTube. But the knock on Jackson, aside from his record in the playoffs, has been his ability to handle adverse situations.
With Jackson behind center, the Ravens have become familiar with being on the right side of a blowout. In 2019, the Ravens won 8 games by double-digits. So far in 2020, they have won 7 by ten or more.
What that means, however, is that Jackson has not had to prove himself late in games. When Baltimore has lost, it has often been because an opposing gameplan took them out of their rhythm and they got too far behind to make up enough ground.
That changed on Monday night, and in perhaps the most dramatic fashion possible.
Jackson was forced to sit out the Raven’s game at Pittsburgh after contracting COVID-19. He says that, while quarantined, he didn’t do anything but sleep. He returned to the field for a Tuesday game against the Cowboys the next week, but Baltimore’s game plan for Jackson in the blowout win was very conservative.
Giving the world a Hollywood-esque moment
Monday, the Ravens faced a must-win situation in a divisional game at Cleveland. Jackson and Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield put on a show in a back-and-forth shootout.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Ravens led 34-20, but that is when Jackson says he started cramping in different areas of his body. He made his way back to the Baltimore locker room, where he spent 13 minutes of the fourth quarter getting IV treatments.
Back-up Robert Griffin III was sidelined. Third-string quarterback Trace McSorley came in in place of Jackson and the Ravens were forced to punt twice. During the time that Jackson was getting treatment, the Browns scored 15 unanswered points, including the go-ahead touchdown with 6:33 remaining.
Trending: Why CJ Avery’s return is crucial for Louisville football
On a third-down play late in the fourth quarter, McSorley was injured on a scramble. For a brief moment in time, it looked like Baltimore was quarterback-less. The Ravens were down a point, out of field goal range, without a single healthy quarterback on the sideline. It was fourth down and five to gain. The two-minute warning hit, and the Ravens had two minutes to figure out what the heck to do.
Then, like a scene from a Disney movie, Jackson emerged from the tunnel at FirstEnergy Stadium.
“I see my guy go down,” Jackson explained after the game. “And, as I see him go down, I’m still stretching. I’m catching an attitude because things ain’t going the way we want them to. Then I see him go down and I was like ‘we just got to go out there.'”
Jackson ran out onto the sideline, grabbed his helmet, got the play call, and ran onto the field. On fourth and five, he took the snap, carried the ball wide to the right and flicked the ball downfield to a wide-open Marquise Brown. A 44-yard touchdown after 44 minutes of real-time in the locker room with an IV in his arm.
After Cleveland responded with a touchdown of its own to knot things up again, Jackson led the Ravens on the game-winning 38-yard drive that set Justin Tucker up for the game-winning field goal.
What this means for Jackson
It was that toss to Brown, however, that may have altered the course of Jackson’s career.
The narrative pinned on Jackson and the Baltimore franchise is that the Ravens have built an exciting team, but when the bright lights come on, they can’t hang with the NFL’s elite.
Despite the fact that Jackson was the league’s second-ever unanimous MVP. Despite the fact that he is 28-9 as a starter. And despite the fact that he continues to improve as a passer and game manager, there has been a shadow cast over him that he cannot win the big game.
Never mind the fact that Jackson has already won at Seattle, at New England, at the LA Chargers, at Buffalo, at Houston, Philadelphia, Indianapolis. Jackson still receives more heat for his losses than praise for his accomplishments.
The Monday night victory at Cleveland, however, feels like a turning point.
For the first time in his professional career, the world watched Jackson go toe-to-toe with an opposing quarterback and will his team to a victory. This was the same opponent that beat him out for back-to-back Heisman Trophy awards. The same player who was drafted first overall in the a year when four other quarterbacks were chosen before him. This was hailed as the game of the year. And Jackson, despite the odds against him, came out victorious.
There will be obstacles on the road to success. Jackson, like any player, understands this. But, for Lamar Jackson, overcoming the odds in Cleveland on Monday may have set the tone for years to come.
