Lamar Jackson says defenses are calling out Ravens plays originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson made waves on The Rich Eisen show Wednesday when he said that opposing defenses know the Ravens’ plays before they’re called.
In his interview with Eisen, Jackson said that he’ll get to the line of scrimmage and hear defenses calling out opposing plays before they’re run.
“It’s a lot of with schemes, we’re going against defenses and they’re calling out our plays, stuff like that,” Jackson told Eisen. “They know what we’re doing. A lot of that, sometimes, you know stuff won’t go our way. They beat us to the punch.”
Jackson, through eight games this season, has thrown for 12 touchdowns and four interceptions with an average of 189.1 yards passing per game. He’s completed 62.9 percent of his passes and has a quarterback rating of 95.1. He’s run 79 times for 469 yards with three touchdowns for an average of 58.6 yards per game.
His numbers have taken a dip from a year ago, when he threw 36 touchdown passes compared to six interceptions in his magical MVP season. He threw for an average of 208.5 yards per game and ran for a quarterback record 1,206 yards (80.4 per game) as he led the Ravens to a 13-2 record in 15 starts.
This year, he says defenses are prepared for what’s coming.
After the team’s loss to the Steelers where Jackson turned the ball over four times, Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith said he saw his interception coming because of a play the Ravens ran in the first half. Highsmith’s interception in Ravens’ territory led to a quick Steelers touchdown.
“We had one of our packages in, that I was in, so I knew when that play started they were coming back to that because they ran the same play in the first half and I didn’t drop deep enough and they threw it over my head,” Highsmith said. “So I learned from that play and just dropped deeper. The ball just fell right to my hands.”
Jackson said he’s happy the team is winning, but the offense isn’t where he wants it to be at the moment. So far this year they rank eighth in points per game (28.4), 31st in passing per game (176.9 yards) and first in rushing (170.1 per game).