There are people who will tell you that Lamar Jackson isn’t a good pocket passer. Those people are absolutely and demonstrably wrong, and they have been since at least 2019. That said, Jackson’s ability to make things happen outside the pocket after a play breaks down is obviously a superpower, and it was never more so than it was when the Baltimore Ravens beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 23-7 last Sunday night.
With 58 seconds left in the third quarter, and the Ravens up 10-7, Jackson took the snap at the Jacksonville 30-yard line. The Jaguars were in Cover-6 — Cover-4 to the boundary and Cover-2 to the field — and sent four pass-rushers. Defensive end Dawuane Smoot beat right tackle Morgan Moses through the pocket, and Jackson was in trouble… for a second. Smoot nearly took Jackson down, but Jackson somehow escaped Smoot’s clutches, rolled to his left, and as Smoot closed in, threw a cross-body ball to tight end Isaiah Likely, who had two defenders converging on him, for a 26-yard gain.
