Reopening the Discussion: Perceived or Real Limitations on Lamar as a Passer and its Impact on the Offense

[Continuity Steve]

Seems like it has been ages ago, but in the summer prior to last season, I uttered the phrase “fringe adequate” and created quite a stir with my old pals JimZipCode and Edromeo. Good times...

I took off from posting most of the season to take care of things on the home front during the pandemic, but I still followed closely. One time I popped back in, Jim reached out and said that he was part of a discussion where reconsidering some of Lamar’s limitations as a passer came up. I didn’t have the time to join in, but I think we’re at the point now as a franchise where we can look at 2 and a half seasons of ups and downs to truly evaluate what we have here.

I’ve always held that Lamar is limited in his upper end arm strength and whether or not that it was enough to be a complete passer at this level, and I’ve taken a lot of heat for it. 3 years in, and we’re still seeing a lot of the same concerns. Lack of zip on some throws to the outside, not much development in our deep passing attack, a significant favor of running plays in our pass/rush ratio, and a lack of investment in high end pass catchers and interior offensive line. This has cumulated in a drop in production from Lamar’s MVP season and a growing consensus that the league has figured us out. This year, we passed for under 3000 yards as a team. In today’s NFL, that’s inexcusable, and we’re starting to have players on the team call it out.

I’ve come to the conclusion that there are either two things at play here. Either the team doesn’t trust Lamar as a complete passer and is stubbornly running a specialized offense that will limit our passing upside, or the team is willfully neglecting upgrading the appropriate line and pass catching personnel to maximize our potential. I think the book might be out, and while I do believe Lamar has limitations as a passer capped by his upper end arm strength, we can’t keep running an unbalanced offense that’s good enough to beat bad teams and win enough against good teams to get us to the playoffs, only to be shut down in mediocre offensive performances in winnable games once we get there. We need to invest in interior offensive line and pass catchers, and start opening things up, otherwise there may just be a hard cap on this offense’s potential. Regardless of whether or not Lamar can make that step to an elite level passer in addition to his running ability, we need to put the pieces in place to find out. If he can’t, at the very least, we’ve put the pieces in place to make our passing attack something we can lean on to win when the run gets shut down. If he does, then we’re in for a real treat.

[moose10101]

His limitations as a passer are:

1) He’s stuck with a poorly designed passing game;

2) He spent too much time running for his life, especially against the Bills. The pass blocking was horrendous.

[jhoff66]

His limitations as a passer are:

1) He’s stuck with a poorly designed passing game;

2) He spent too much time running for his life, especially against the Bills. The pass blocking was horrendous.

Exactly. Look at Lamar's playoff losses. Pressure and lack of protection have been a major factor. Getting Stanley back and finding a Center is critical this offseason

[Continuity Steve]

I do agree with you both, but it begs the question...why, if it is so obvious to us, is the team not investing in better scheme and offensive personnel? Do they see Jackson as limited as a passer or are they just foolishly stubborn.

[HbgPARavenfan]

Exactly. Look at Lamar's playoff losses. Pressure and lack of protection have been a major factor. Getting Stanley back and finding a Center is critical this offseason

Its easy to blitz a team who has no ability to adjust in game

[jhoff66]

Lamar made chicken salad out of chicken sh** for most of this year. I think he needs to have a full offseason with Joshua Harris again this year to sure up his mechanics. Pretty sure COVID prohibited this last year,, which showed in some one his throws.

[GreatWhiteNorthRaven]

His limitations as a passer are:

1) He’s stuck with a poorly designed passing game;

2) He spent too much time running for his life, especially against the Bills. The pass blocking was horrendous.

These issues are present, but Lamar also struggles to throw with anticipation of the route breaking.

Sometimes the ball is coming out late whether there's pressure or not. It's something he's struggled with through all 18 games. His best moments where he's getting in rhythm is becuase he's decisive when he makes the throw and he leads guys open.

It's a complex game and multiple things cna be going on. Lamar's struggle with this impact doesn't mean the pass pro wasn't also poor.

[crabcakes]

To me its telling. This is the nfl, not "cracker jack level stuff". Coaches get paid ALOT of money to scheme for your players. It will be year 4 and they still severely limit the amount of throws for Jackson. To me this tells me they have no confidence in Jackson ever evolving as a typical passing QB. The scheme and Jackson are one in the same

[s.r.genovese]

The offense will be limited until Lamar can consistently and accurately throw outside the numbers. He doesn’t need to be Flacco in his rookie year but he needs to be middle of the pack and right now he is very far away from that. Any passing offense is easy to defend when you can flood the middle and leave outside corners on an island.

[jaydee414]

It seems as though LJ doesn’t trust his own ability to “throw a guy open”, or he doesn’t recognize the progression of a route.
Looks like he wants to wait until a receiver is “open” before he throws, not understanding that “open” in the NFL is different than “open” in NCAA.

Now, whether or not the Ravens have receivers CAPABLE of getting “open” or an OC who can create an NFL-level passing game is an entirely separate question.

[2bynight]

It seems as though LJ doesn’t trust his own ability to “throw a guy open”, or he doesn’t recognize the progression of a route.
Looks like he wants to wait until a receiver is “open” before he throws, not understanding that “open” in the NFL is different than “open” in NCAA.

Now, whether or not the Ravens have receivers CAPABLE of getting “open” or an OC who can create an NFL-level passing game is an entirely separate question.

That again begs the issue of the Ravens not having a true #1 WR. Or TEs that can consistently catch.

[2bynight]

To me its telling. This is the nfl, not "cracker jack level stuff". Coaches get paid ALOT of money to scheme for your players. It will be year 4 and they still severely limit the amount of throws for Jackson. To me this tells me they have no confidence in Jackson ever evolving as a typical passing QB. The scheme and Jackson are one in the same

If you are correct in your assumption then that is truly frightening stuff in the eventual evolvement of the team to greater heights.