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After digesting the game and watching the tape, the Ravens have to find their offensive identity outside of Lamar Jackson just making a play.
The bottom line is he missed multiple throws at the end of the game that could have tied it. That’s a fact.
The bigger picture is, he is having to make a play down in and down out so much that his Superman Cape is getting worn down by the end of the game.
When you watch the Chiefs you know Patrick Mahomes is special, but their scheme isn’t reliant on him “just making a play” all the time.
It’s systematically built to allow him to have “layup” completions and be the point guard dishing out dimes instead of always having to score himself. Even Steph Curry needs a few layups before it’s just all 3’s and night night time.
But when the time comes, he nails the big play, in part because he hasn’t been shooting fade away 3 pointers while being doubled all game long.
The Ravens have Derrick Henry and need to run their offense through him and play action pass. They have 2 tight ends in Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely who are mismatch nightmares for linebackers and safeties, while also being willing blockers.
Bateman and Flowers can eat in 1 on 1 situations, so run the ball relentlessly and force the defense to add an extra defender to the box before getting enamored with throwing the football all over the yard.
The Ravens need Lamar at his best at the end of the game, so getting the rest of the team engrained in the game early is more important than having Lamar be EVERYTHING on offense from start to finish.
I would rather Lamar run for 50 yards in the 4th Quarter than 120+ yards throughout the entire game.
He himself would tell you he needed to be better at the end of the game.
The Ravens can help him by not asking him to be Superman the entire game.
The Ravens can only do this if their offensive line play improves dramatically to protect Lamar in pocket and help the running game outside of him scrambling.
Long term, it’s about so much more than “just make the throw”, but yes he has to do that too. And he will.