Lamar Jackson

[purplepittabread88]

Well I'd really consider it three years. He was barely even a QB his "rookie" year.
I'm not really losing too much sleep over it. 1-2 in two years in the playoffs isn't that terrible in the grand scheme of things. I consider the loss to Tennessee two years ago to be a major disappointment (as the #1 seed), but last year I wasn't surprised by it at all.
As for this year, just shows you that having a good or even great QB isn't enough.
I go and look at his peer group:
Josh Allen has 2 playoff wins in his first three full seasons
Deshaun Watson has 1 playoff win his first three full seasons
Dak Prescott has 1 playoff win in his first four full seasons
Kyler Murray has 0 playoff wins in his first two full seasons

I'd even point you to Peyton Manning, who didn't win a playoff game until his 6th season.

Guys like Mahomes and Brady who win a bunch very early are largely outliers in history.

I have to clarify on this, my post was not Lamar hate. I don’t expect him to single handed win playoff games this young, my point was aimed at being that changes need to be made somewhere (could be coaches, could be where we are investing our money -most free agents have sucked-)

Lamar is so good that looking at the 4 year window it’s a problem we haven’t won more playoff games. Because our team is good enough too!

 

[purplepittabread88]

This post needs to be bookmarked. I've used the Peyton Manning scenario on multiple occasions with friends and relatives,but the rest of the examples just show how rare it is.

I like and understand what you are saying but I think in that example it is fair to point out the colts drafted Manning 1st overall for a reason, talent and culture wise indy was a shit hole. Also they fired Mora after 4 years and Dungy saved them (not at all saying we need to fire harbs I want him here)

I’m totally cool with Lamars progress he’s outstanding, and he has a long leash. But my problem is we constantly shit the bed in playoff games and our offense goes from 20+ points every game regular season to averaging what like 6 a game in the playoffs? That needs to be fixed - even if that’s Roman or where we invest the money, because that’s simply unacceptable.

I think I’d feel more comfortable without change if other teams were beating us, not our team just dissolving in January

 

[purplepittabread88]

I’d give my first born child to see us do a 2019 mnf rams or snf patriots performance to someone in the playoffs next year

 

[rossihunter2]

Actually my man, checking down/throwing a quick pass and not holding on to the ball too long is precisely two of the answers against cover 0… on any down…. Do that, get them out of cover 0, and there you go.

not sure a 2 yard out or 5 yard slant on 3rd and 10 discourages teams from blitzing you - the checkdown for sure doesnt help you here

checking down vs cover-0 is definitely not the answer - especially when teams are showing you cover-0 looks and then bailing guys out into that middle space

obviously you normally want to attack the middle of the field vs cover-0 because there cant be a safety there

obviously everything you do vs cover-0 has to be quick because of the unblocked defender but there's a difference between the quick game and blitz adjustments - i think the real answer depending on the types of cover-0 looks we get is to attack the post especially given the dynamic speed we have off the line with hollywood - you can use fades and stuff too on the outside (and we may see that more now with bateman in the lineup) but that's a much lower percentage outcome - slants are great but you're relying on your receiver breaking a tackle and you'd better be confident that you arent getting any cheeky zone drops into the lane (in 2020 Tyus Bowser was the master at this) - getting andrews to run a corner depending on the leverage of the defender can work too - an over route also

lots of options

but philosophically (to me at least) the way to beat cover-0 is not about the short game because teams will give you that all day given the situations where teams are likely to show you cover-0 - it's about threatening them over the top where they have no safety help (hence the 0)

the best answer we've shown was ironically the first answer we showed against the dolphins on that opening drive where sammy just gave up on the play - i will say that the straight go out of the slot is such a tough ball to throw and layer in there - turn it into a corner or a post and it's likely that's 6 points even easier but still a play we could have/should have made - obviously you have to have different levels and i think the biggest issue with defeating all-out pressure looks has been compacting the field and keeping in 7 men to block - if we split out wide they have to move guys in man to cover them or they're just leaving someone wide open and that's an easy play to make - so move guys out of the box and make the blitz look less compact and harder to disguise and spread the field to create and preserve that space over the middle (where the space typically exists in the cover-0)

 

[ravenslord]

No practice for Lamar today. I guess we put him on ice till next year unless we miraculously back into the playoffs. Go Jaguars ! LOL.

 

[ndub]

not sure a 2 yard out or 5 yard slant on 3rd and 10 discourages teams from blitzing you - the checkdown for sure doesnt help you here

checking down vs cover-0 is definitely not the answer - especially when teams are showing you cover-0 looks and then bailing guys out into that middle space

obviously you normally want to attack the middle of the field vs cover-0 because there cant be a safety there

obviously everything you do vs cover-0 has to be quick because of the unblocked defender but there's a difference between the quick game and blitz adjustments - i think the real answer depending on the types of cover-0 looks we get is to attack the post especially given the dynamic speed we have off the line with hollywood - you can use fades and stuff too on the outside (and we may see that more now with bateman in the lineup) but that's a much lower percentage outcome - slants are great but you're relying on your receiver breaking a tackle and you'd better be confident that you arent getting any cheeky zone drops into the lane (in 2020 Tyus Bowser was the master at this) - getting andrews to run a corner depending on the leverage of the defender can work too - an over route also

lots of options

but philosophically (to me at least) the way to beat cover-0 is not about the short game because teams will give you that all day given the situations where teams are likely to show you cover-0 - it's about threatening them over the top where they have no safety help (hence the 0)

the best answer we've shown was ironically the first answer we showed against the dolphins on that opening drive where sammy just gave up on the play - i will say that the straight go out of the slot is such a tough ball to throw and layer in there - turn it into a corner or a post and it's likely that's 6 points even easier but still a play we could have/should have made - obviously you have to have different levels and i think the biggest issue with defeating all-out pressure looks has been compacting the field and keeping in 7 men to block - if we split out wide they have to move guys in man to cover them or they're just leaving someone wide open and that's an easy play to make - so move guys out of the box and make the blitz look less compact and harder to disguise and spread the field to create and preserve that space over the middle (where the space typically exists in the cover-0)

Thank you for the excellent analysis Rossi!

 

[rossihunter2]

Thank you for the excellent analysis Rossi!

just to be clear im not saying lamar's faultless and im not saying the offence didnt have some answers available

just that too often we didnt have an answer and when we did the execution was off (either lamar not seeing it, or OL or receivers screwing up) - but i think what's stuck out clearly to me is that i think the protection and route concepts we used when trying to defeat cover-0 only made it harder to punish teams for it - our response to blitzing was to get smaller and shrink the field with condensed formations and frequently going to max protect and only 3 man route concepts and after the dolphins game our only answers to the blitz have been those quick routes underneath that are cool but they're ultimately useless on 3rd down unless you've got a receiver in space able to break a tackle (which is possible to do and certainly is a reasonable answer as long as it isnt the only answer)

obviously it really helps if you've got a receiver who's great at the catch-point who you can just throw the back-shoulder to and let them go up and win (like Boldin for Flacco during that super-bowl run or AB in '16 and '17 for the steelers or this year Chase for Burrow and the Bengals)

 

[JO_75]

No practice for Lamar today. I guess we put him on ice till next year unless we miraculously back into the playoffs. Go Jaguars ! LOL.

It's not that farfetched, Colts haven't won in Jacksonville since 2014. Knowing how our season has been nothing but false hope, Jags will win, Pats beat the Dolphins, We win and we have to rely on the Chargers to choke like they do, and they won't because the Raiders always do the opposite of what we need to happen.

Then we stayed up until midnight for nothing and pick 18th in the Draft.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Y’all mfs just watch. Everything we need to go our way will go our way, and Big Ben will shred us one last time to give us a last minute L

 

[Tank]

I think they decided to shut down Lamar as soon as he went down. I mean even the old lady limp at practice video seemed staged. I could be wrong but that’s just the way I feel.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

sure - only thing i think might play into this (at least with Roman) is that it seemed like 2020 might have been the mulligan when we look at the passing game and how it didnt really develop from 2019 and we blamed that on OL injuries and then trotted out something even less effective with even more injuries in 2021

at what point do we stop blaming injuries and covid on the lack of schematic development in the passing game

I tend to disagree that the passing game was less effective this year. Despite all of the injuries, Hollywood Andrews are 1,000 yrd receivers and Bateman, Proche, and Duvernay were adequate once they started getting looks. I think we'll be able to do without Watkins next year with these guys showing signs of life and, hopefully Wallace progressing. I would have liked to see Lamar in control of it all year, obviously, but even without him, it was nowhere near as anemic as 2020.

The question about Roman returning I think is moot. Are they going to move on from him? No. Is he going to get offered another job and force our hand? No. Are his supporting staff supporting him? I believes so. So it's a, "let it ride" kind of situation. Now, if everyone is healthy next year - or minimal injuries - and they are not showing progress from this year, then it's time to likely move on. His specialty - running scheme - was affected in the most catastrophic way... multiple injuries on the offensive line, RB's, and a QB that routinely rushes for 1000 yrds. This year was a Mulligan almost from the start.

 

[rmcjacket23]

I have to clarify on this, my post was not Lamar hate. I don’t expect him to single handed win playoff games this young, my point was aimed at being that changes need to be made somewhere (could be coaches, could be where we are investing our money -most free agents have sucked-)

Lamar is so good that looking at the 4 year window it’s a problem we haven’t won more playoff games. Because our team is good enough too!

I mean... what free agents have we really signed though? We signed Zeitler, who's been great. We traded for Campbell and Peters, both of whom are expensive, and both have played well. So where are the other free agents that have sucked? Like I guess Watkins counts, but he's not even remotely expensive. The only one's I can really think of who's been a whiff in the last 2-3 years, and was of significant $, was Earl Thomas and probably Tony Jefferson.

I think failure to create depth and develop certain players on the Oline for the last 2-3 years has been a major issue, and I think we've lacked a pass rush. That, coupled with not a lot of weapons for Lamar prior to 2021, were probably the biggest issues.

I really put a lot of 2021 issues at the feet of injuries to be honest, and I think a lot of the revisionist history is on the fact that we laid an egg in the playoffs. The playoffs, while super important, is just a one game tournament basically. People tend to overreact dramatically from whatever happens in that one game and try to pretend like it was a universal problem for all games. That's not how I see it at all.

If I look at 2019 and 2020 combined, we were 25-7 in the regular season. We were routinely crushing teams on a weekly basis. We had 17 of 25 wins by at least 14 points. We basically had two embarrassing losses in two years (games where we weren't super competitive for long stretches).

Fast-forward to 2021, we're a .500 team with two "blowout" wins the whole season (Denver and the Chargers) and we've been trucked twice by Cincinnati. 11 of 16 games have been within 6 points or less.

I'm not buying that this happens because the coaching staff somehow magically gets "figured out" and that losing Judon and Ngaokue means we lose like 4 more games than the prior year.

I'll jump on board on the "major changes" train when I see a more healthy roster go 8-9 next year.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

I think they decided to shut down Lamar as soon as he went down. I mean even the old lady limp at practice video seemed staged. I could be wrong but that’s just the way I feel.

Also leads credence to idea the injury was worse than they were letting on. Sort of playing that "Belichek game" of listing everyone as questionable each week yet having no real chance of being in the game.

 

[Tank]

Also leads credence to idea the injury was worse than they were letting on. Sort of playing that "Belichek game" of listing everyone as questionable each week yet having no real chance of being in the game.

Yeah, or maybe the opposite and it just gave them the excuse. It really didn’t look to be a serious situation when he got injured. More or less just got tripped up.

 

[BoredMarine13]

Y’all mfs just watch. Everything we need to go our way will go our way, and Big Ben will shred us one last time to give us a last minute L

I felt great sadness reading this… because i can 100% see this happening


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Davesta]

Y’all mfs just watch. Everything we need to go our way will go our way, and Big Ben will shred us one last time to give us a last minute L

JuJu comes back from IR for 1 last ride with Big Ben. Catches the game winner with double zero on the clock.

then makes his way to the middle of the field where Big Ben and Clay Chasepool are there waiting for him.

A new tiktok dance is created, reaches 1 billion likes, and Steelers become America’s team.. surpassing Jerry Jones Cowboys.

/end

 

[JoeyFlex5]

JuJu comes back from IR for 1 last ride with Big Ben. Catches the game winner with double zero on the clock.

then makes his way to the middle of the field where Big Ben and Clay Chasepool are there waiting for him.

A new tiktok dance is created, reaches 1 billion likes, and Steelers become America’s team.. surpassing Jerry Jones Cowboys.

/end

Plot twist, Ben is the one doing the dance

 

[airconteka]

Plot twist, Ben is the one doing the dance

And does both ACLs

 

[Dom McRaven]

I’d give my first born child to see us do a 2019 mnf rams or snf patriots performance to someone in the playoffs next year

My mans would use the soul stone if we had a playoff run full of 2019 MNF Rams performances that lead us to winning our 3rd Super Bowl. Yikes!

 

[RavensMania]

I felt great sadness reading this… because i can 100% see this happening


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

and then for the next two decades we need to see ESPN call it the "immaculate ........."