Love your analysis of Flacco being "formed" into "Check down Charlie". They took a Howitzer and tried to turn him into a poker table Derringer.
The more they tried to get him to "Brain the Game", the worse he got. Worse yet, they never understood his vulnerabilities and they pulled the rug out from under him with receiver mismanagement. You all know the big one. The one Flacco lobbied for, the same one they nickeled and dimed
away.
I know that I've never seen a Quarterback as quick as Lamar Jackson. Expected his quickness to be negated with the speed in the NFL and it was, to a degree, but he's still the quickest "fast twitch" NFL QB I've ever seen. However, contrary to your enthusiasm, I don't believe quickness is the hallmark trait of a Franchise QB in the NFL and he should not have been drafted on that alone. It may help him, (and did), to evade the pass rush and run. But if that is all that he has, it won't be enough. He needs to read the field and throw with accuracy and in that department, if one is candid, he remains a horrific train wreck.
Lets see Lamar play a full year at QB, employ that Quickness as his predominate trait and see if he can stay in one piece. Lamar's running over those last 8 games was effective. It caught the league by surprise. We could buck this Passing League by having a great defense and running them over, but its a longshot and I'm betting against.
We'll be viable, as long as the defense keeps us in games, 2000, but we don't have an NFL caliber QB now. He'd make a great cornerback and you know where I'd start him.
I actually think I do give Lamar plenty of leeway; not that my or your or anyone's opinion of him or Flacco means much in the grand scheme of things...and hell, not to pat myself on the back, but I predicted that Mayfield and Lamar would be the best QBs from this draft and I nearly shit myself when we pulled the trigger and grabbed Lamar. I was excited to get him as I was when we drafted Flacco.
In case anyone got the wrong idea, my opinion is that these coaches are going to make or break Lamar. I have complete faith that in good hands, Lamar would eventually become a shit stomping monster. So with that being said, he is not in good hands. He is in the hands of the people who took Flacco, a guy who made his mark in this league by throwing bombs on urrbody and was widely recognized by media and players as the premier deep passer in the league, and turned him into Checkdown Charlie. These are the people we are trusting to bring the best out of Lamar.
So there lies my frustration. These idiots are going to ruin him. Rather than let him loose and grow as a passer like I clamored for -- because I KNOW Lamar can handle it even if these idiot coaches don't -- they pulled that shit last week. So now if Lamar is going to realize his potential, he has to say fuck the coaches and do it on his own. I'm upset because these fuckers are going to go and break my heart; all my excitement and hopes and dreams when we called Lamar's name are dwindling each week. It's the same feeling I have had these past three years watching Flacco throw designed 4 yard dumps to TE's and RBs. Maybe it isn't fair to take it out on Lamar, but fuck man...