He doesn’t want to talk about it, but Lamar Jackson’s 22-1 record as a starter against NFC opponents is worth discussion ahead of the Baltimore Ravens facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football in Week 7.
Why has the Ravens’ starting quarterback dominated the national conference so thoroughly? Well, it turns out there are two secrets behind Jackson’s success against the NFC.
Lamar Jackson Has Dominated NFC in 2 Ways
Those reasons were summed up by former Ravens safety Eric Weddle. He was on the receiving end of some of Jackson’s NFC kryptonite as a member of the Los Angeles Rams in 2019.
That was the year Jackson won his first NFL MVP award. His five-touchdown passes during a 45-6 win over the Rams helped Jackson scoop the prize.
The performance also left an impression on Weddle. He told ESPN’s Jamison Hensley, “It’s the shock factor of his ability when the ball’s in his hands, whether he’s throwing it or running it. He’s just so electric.”
Jackson has shocked NFC teams with off-platform throws like this one during a dynamic display against the San Francisco 49ers last season.
Shock factor is justified because Jackson has made a happy habit of producing big plays during inter-conference games. Hensley revealed that “Since Jackson entered the league in 2018, he’s the only quarterback to produce over 30 completions of 25-plus yards and over 25 runs of 15-plus yards against the NFC.”
Catching opponents by surprise isn’t the only reason Jackson has bossed the NFC. A natural flair for extending plays has also been key to the 27-year-old’s winning streak.
As Weddle explained, “It’s backyard football. Everything is so regimented at the NFL, and the ball comes out at this [average] time. Well, it goes out the window when you play these guys that can extend the play.”
The numbers support this view. Hensley detailed how “Jackson’s average time before a pass against the NFC is three seconds, the most all-time by an AFC quarterback since Jackson’s first season in 2018.”
It’s just one way Jackson has made history against his AFC neighbours.
Ravens QB1 Wants to Share NFC History
Jackson is keen to share the accolades he’s earned by setting an all-time mark against the NFC. His record “is the best by any starting quarterback in interconference games since 1970 when the AFC and NFC were created, according to ESPN Research. Bob Griese, who quarterbacked the Miami Dolphins in the 1970s, has the second-best interconference record at 21-4 (.840),” per Hensley.
The new mark was set by wins over the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders. Those games showed Jackson has nothing left to prove, according to one teammate.
He’s been the driving force, but Jackson isn’t keen on taking all of the credit. He told reporters, including Hensley (h/t Ravens Vault co-host Sarah Ellison), his success has been due to “an all-around team effort, game-planning. Probably just because we see each other once a year, so it’s hard to gameplan for us, so a little bit of everything.”
Not making it all about himself is a sign of Jackson’s maturity and recommends him as the true leader of this team. Ironically though, the Ravens still only go as far as No. 8 can take them, and that won’t change in primetime against a rugged Bucs’ defense adept at bringing pressure and physical in space.
Tampa Bay has the talent to put a rare blot on Jackson’s record against the NFC, but the task has gotten harder now Derrick Henry is in the backfield. The two-time NFL rushing champion is the finisher who makes it impossible for defenses to focus entirely on Jackson.
It means Jackson’s mastery of the NFC is likely to continue.
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