Pundit Says Lamar Jackson Can Bust Another Narrative Before It Even Begins
Lamar Jackson has slayed so many narratives all through his NFL profession that it is easy to lose depend.
Press Box’s Glenn Clark famous that Jackson erased two extra narratives in Saturday’s 28-14 Wild-Card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers and might bust one other earlier than it even begins.
The first was extra of a group narrative. It was the notion that the Steelers “had the Ravens’ quantity.” Pittsburgh had received eight of the ten earlier video games within the collection, with Jackson going 2-4.
“That’s performed now,” Clark wrote. “The Ravens had been the higher group through the stretch. The collection file was not an correct reflection of something. Two decisive wins — the primary with the division title hanging within the stability and the second within the playoffs — have flipped the script.”
The second busted narrative was that Jackson “is not the identical man within the playoffs.”
“That goose can also be cooked,” Clark wrote. “Jackson has now posted a 2-1 file in his final three playoff video games. In that stretch he has accomplished 65 p.c of his passes, piled up 834 yards of complete offense to associate with seven complete touchdowns and only one interception (and one misplaced fumble). He hasn’t gone ‘one and performed’ within the postseason since earlier than the pandemic. … The actuality is that, like many earlier than him, Jackson was being overly judged on outcomes from very early in his profession (and at a dramatically younger age) and premature accidents robbed him of extra adjustments to vary the narrative.
“Lamar Jackson very a lot met the just about unattainable normal of ‘being Lamar Jackson’ in his first playoff recreation this 12 months. He was good towards the Steelers. If solely soccer had adopted a standard stat that judges quarterback’s decision-making on zone reads as properly as a result of it looks like his 132.0 quarterback score nonetheless does not totally do the efficiency justice.”
Sunday’s showdown with Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills in a divisional-round recreation offers Jackson a possibility to preemptively quell his critics on one other matter, Clark mentioned.
“Josh Allen does not have any type of higher hand over Jackson at this level of their careers,” Clark wrote. “But if the Ravens lose, even when Jackson performs brilliantly, it is going to be all too straightforward to create a extra particular narrative that factors out how the potential three-time MVP will then be 0-3 all-time in playoff video games towards Allen and Patrick Mahomes.
“Instead, Jackson might bust that exact narrative earlier than it even begins.”
