The Arizona Cardinals talked privately this past week about how they had a few new wrinkles for Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Oh, they did.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they didn’t have enough offense in a 31-24 loss to the Ravens at State Farm Stadium on Sunday, but they showed again the best way to attack Jackson and company.
We’ve seen it before. The Los Angeles Chargers showed it in 2018. Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel showed it in the 2019 playoffs. You have to keep Jackson contained in the pocket and make him beat you with his arm.
Arizona was successful because they confused Jackson with different looks and coverages. Sometimes Arizona rushed only three and dropped eight, and other times they stayed with a four-man rush and had seven in the passing lanes.
It doesn’t sound like anything new, but it was different than what the Cardinals had shown in previous games. If you slow Jackson, then the Ravens’ offense comes to a crawl. Baltimore certainly wasn’t the big, bad offense that racked up more than 500 yards in a 38-6 beatdown of the Detroit Lions last week.
The Ravens had only 268 yards of total offense Sunday and were four of 11 on third down. Jackson completed 18 of 27 passes for only 157 yards with one touchdown — on their first drive of the game.
“I believe [Arizona’s] defense — the type of defense they were playing — some of the plays we had, we shouldn’t be holding the ball long,” Jackson said. “They were able to get after us a little, disrupt the backfield a little, that’s all. But hats off to their defense because they fought well.
“When they would drop back in coverage, we had longer-developing routes, and their defensive line was causing havoc, that’s all.”
Years ago, teams had to stop Jackson the runner, but the philosophy is different now. You still don’t want him to beat you (obviously), but if he does, it must be with his arm. The Colts did it earlier this season, relying on their speed and making an adjustment at halftime.
Jackson couldn’t, as he completed 22 of 31 passes for 202 yards and was sacked four times in a 22-19 loss.
A week ago, the Lions thought they could get pressure on Jackson with their front four. So they backed off the line of scrimmage and played a lot of zone, but when they couldn’t get pressure, that strategy failed miserably.
Few teams have dropped eight into coverage against the Ravens. When Arizona blitzed and Jackson threw to rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers on quick screens, the Cardinals were all over it.
That’s how a team has to play Jackson. You mix it up, give him different looks and try to confuse him. Jackson is a rhythm quarterback but he can get frustrated. Ever notice that when he fumbles in a game, another turnover usually comes within minutes?
He never got in sync against the Cardinals. He should have had two passes intercepted. He held onto the ball too long because he either couldn’t find running lanes or he couldn’t figure out the coverages. He was sacked four times.
Something was off.
“We started to find our groove, but there were too many drives where we weren’t in a groove, and that’s the part where I still feel like we controlled the game,” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said. “Obviously when you have a great defense like that, you can control the game and have some stalls. For us, if we’re able to capitalize and score and drive the ball, and [we] had too many three-and-outs. So, we have to work on that.”
The biggest surprise was that, aside from Andrews, the Ravens weren’t getting much separation against Arizona’s 23rd-ranked passing defense, which allowed 237.6 yards per game entering Sunday.
Receivers usually don’t get much separation in the NFL, but there should be a little daylight between the Ravens’ and opposing cornerbacks. It wasn’t evident Sunday.
Maybe the Ravens got a little pass-happy after torching the Lions. Of their 27 first-half plays Sunday, 18 were passes.
There wasn’t much balance.
“We’ll definitely look at it,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “We’re going to be our own worst critics. Nobody’s their own worst critic more than our play caller [offensive coordinator Todd Monken]. I promise you that. He criticizes himself pretty hard, and he’ll look at all that.
“There’s a reason for doing that. I think we were attacking some things. We were trying to go right at them and attack them in certain ways with their coverage.”
Maybe the Cardinals were expecting the same thing. Regardless, the strategy to beat the Ravens will never change. You have to make Jackson beat you with his arm and turn the game into a chess match.
If he can, so be it.
If he can’t, the Ravens are beatable.
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