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Lamar Jackson


Slingin' Sammy

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Lets just talk about what he's doing right now. Through eleven games this season he has 30 TD's to 5 TO's (all from two games), 3000 all-purpose yards, and a 111.4 passer rating. After last night, he's clearly established himself as one of the favorites for MVP.

 

But beyond what the stats say, watching this guy on the football field is incredible. He has a canon for an arm, is perhaps the most elusive and explosive QB the NFL has ever seen, and (most importantly) his passing accuracy has looked phenomenal. He's like Vick on steroids.

 

Which begs the question: how long does Lamar keep up this level of play? Is this what we can expect for years to come, or like other athletic specimen QB's will he have a short career plagued by injuries and inconsistent play?

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Yea he's great, he's the MVP.

We've seen high peaks before but people love to live in the moment.  Chances are unlikely he'll sustain this level of play for a very long time.  It's a softer, more offense friendly league than ever before, so he has that going for him.  But it's hard to play at this level every year of your career.  Any number of things can slow you down, and his supporting cast will eventually get worse.  

I say enjoy it while it lasts, and hope injuries don't derail it.

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I am sure he and the Ravens get figured out to an extent, as nearly every offense does. I’m guessing teams figure out how to force him to beat them passing from the pocket, which will surely involve a spy or zone defense. Of course this all has to be done w/out sacrificing too much in run defense or they’ll run over you. A true quandary, not one I can answer, but these are problems DCs are paid to solve and usually do eventually. Now if he can fully take advantage of a defense being forced to allocate a spy and play zone, then I could see the offense continue to roll. In either case I would be shocked to see this same running AND passing production again in 2020, or ever. 

This is like 2010 Vick season, turned up a notch, so I think what follows is 2011 Vick in terms of how teams were able to contain his scrambling and force him to be a pocket passer. Vick disappointed in this phase and thus never led as good an offense as he did in 2010. All will come down to “pure passing”, Lamar is a revolutionary QB in the same vein as Vick or Cam, but like we saw with both of them, it still comes down to your passing ability at the end of the day, you’ll only go as far as it can take you. Lamar has no doubt improved a great deal in that department from 2018 to 2019.

 

As far as injuries, who knows. Obviously, w/ his play style alone, he is more likely to get hurt. Add in smaller frame compared to a Cam, and he seems destined to “break down”... but maybe he won’t? Steve Young, granted not as explosive or getting designed runs, was able to give a decade of good play into his mid 30s. 

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People definitely love to live in the moment. Remember when Jaws said, "Kaepernick could be one of the greatest QBs ever"? At the time Kaepernick was Lamar. He had Greg Roman as his OC and Jim Harbaugh as his HC in San Fran. Once Jim left Kaepernick went down because he never adjusted to the league adjusting to him. Remember RG3 being the sensation in his rookie season? He never was the same after that season. I get it because with Kaepernick the Niners fans got excited because they went from Alex Smith to him. With Ravens fans they went from Flacco to Lamar. Chiefs fans went from Smith to Mahomes. The Redskins fans went from Grossman to RG3. The Texans fans went from Osweiler to Watson. So I get the excitement. Thats like going from a hooptie to a benz. To the media just like Kaepernick, Mahomes, RG3, Watson, and now Lamar they like new sensations. Its like me getting excited for the PS5 coming out next year. I dont want to even think about the PS4 anymore and if you talk about the PS3 Im going slap the Sony out of you lol. I want to talk about the PS5 lol. So like thats what the media is. As soon as Tua comes out then the next season Lawrence they are going to be the new sensations. Then the fans of their teams will get excited because if the Dolphins get Tua they will have went from Fitzpatrick to Tua. Thats exciting lol. We have to keep everything in perspective though. Lamar is going to win the MVP, the Ravens are fun to watch and they are showing they are a great team in the NFL. Lamar isnt the best QB in the NFL, lets not think this is going to last for a long time. It could but many thought that with Kaepernick and RG3. People though Mahomes would come in and throw for 5000yds and 50tds like he did last season. I sure didnt think that but again the excitement, the hype, and just assuming thats how its going to be every season. Teams adjust, players take steps back even if its small. If Lamar struggles next season Im not going to call him a one hit wonder like some probably will but at the same time Im not going to say he is the greatest thing ever because of what he is doing this season.

Thats the problem with society today. They put a player in the HOF before he plays a single game. They label a guy a bust before he ever plays a single game. Sports is about development. Let the player develop. Some players it takes longer than others. It might take Lamar one season and it took Brees a few seasons. Quick success doesnt mean better either. Again Kaepernick and RG3 are perfect examples of that. I remember Mayock saying when Kaepernick was drafted that it would take him 2yrs to develop before he even have a shot to compete for the starting job. He came in a year in a half to be the starter. My math says thats before 2yrs. He had instant success and it sure looked like Mayock was wrong. Well after that quick instant success Kaepernick didnt do anything and even before he got kicked out of the league for the protest, he wasnt looking like a starting QB. So in theory Mayock was right. Had Kaepernick took the proper steps to develop his game he wouldve still been a starter and playing very well. Anyone can get hot in sports and play well for a season or a good stretch in a season. Think about Jeremy Lin in the NBA? Think about Payton Hillis in the NFL? The great to even really good ones sustain the level of playing well throughout a career. So only time will tell for Lamar moving forward. I like him though and the only knock I had on him coming into the season was throwing the football and he has improved this season. Thats scary because its like Gianna in the NBA if he can ever develop a competent 3pt shot. If he does he is going to be unstoppable. Like if Lamar continues to improve his passing like he is going to be unstoppable. Cant make that judgement just one season because I want to see consistency over the course of seasons when teams start to adjust.  

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Longevity can never be predicted. Some big QBs haven’t lasted forever (Luck), some have (Favre). Some smaller QBs haven’t lasted forever (RGIII), some have (Brees). Some pocket passers get bumped up relatively often (Ben, Rodgers), some don’t (Brady, Peyton). Precedent doesn’t even work for this, everyone is different. 

Same with consistency. Some guys trend upwards (Alex Smith), some trend downwards (Freeman), some are year to year (Cam), some peak late (Vick), some peak early (Bradford). You never know. 

I think mobile QBs tend to open themselves up to more hits and those are usually a big factor but there are guys who were more traditional passers that couldn’t stay healthy too.

Edited by Yin-Yang
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He'll regress cause he'll get figured out, but he won't regress like, say, Goff has done this season and I don't see the Ravens struggling next season either. The only way I see him regressing is through a huge injury but he's played this way his whole life and I think he's never been injured before so, that says more than it needs to.

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My issue with everybody is the fact that people say we need to wait and see what happens when the league adjusts and how he responds or if he gets hurt what will he be then... Cool... Him overcoming those things is what it’s gonna take for y’all to believe... We get it... what he has done in college and this far as a pro is what we are using as a determining factor as to why we are singing his praises though... time telling who is right has no bearing on how he has played this far... and based upon that.. you kno... what we have actually seen... he has been as good as any quarterback in year two this side of dan Marino and pat Mahomes and has been the orchestrator of the most efficient offense through 11 weeks in the history of the nfl despite playing less than one possession of the fourth quarter of an NFL game 4 times without an injury issue... that’s almost 50% of our win total... for whatever reason people can’t see how truly amazing this has been... but once again I digress

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