ExtremeRavens Posted yesterday at 11:30 AM Posted yesterday at 11:30 AM Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson dropped back to pass, had Mark Andrews wide-open in the left flat for a critical first down late in the game and instead passed over the middle to DeAndre Hopkins short of the sticks. Watching from his couch, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and Super Bowl 34 Most Valuable Player Kurt Warner noted that had Jackson had a better “pressure plan” to handle the blitz and gotten the ball to the tight end, it was “game over.” That was 14 weeks ago in a crushing season-opening one-point loss to the Buffalo Bills. Yet, Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, many of the same missed opportunities plagued Jackson and Baltimore again, this time in a critical AFC North defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers as much as the right hand of the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player, among some shoddy officiating and a multitude of miscues by others. The Ravens are just a game back in the division and can assure themselves of a third-straight division title and playoff spot by winning their remaining four games, but the common threads between that Week 1 collapse and their most recent outing are as astonishing as they are pernicious. The tape, as coaches often say, doesn’t lie. What the NFL’s All-22 film revealed Being compared to second-year Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy is not a compliment. That’s who ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky invoked, though, while also calling many of Jackson’s misfires against the Steelers “egregious” during an appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show” this week. While Jackson was almost entirely brilliant in that Bills game — despite his decision on the Ravens’ final offensive play — he has been anything but for most of the season and especially lately. In his past five games, Jackson has failed to reach a 60% completion rate, the longest such stretch of his career. He also went three straight without producing a touchdown for the first time before breaking that skid with a passing touchdown and a score on the ground against Pittsburgh. Still, as Orlovsky said, Jackson is getting caught from behind more than he ever has before and Baltimore’s offense looks “broken.” There were plenty of examples. Final series of the game: Trailing by 5 points with 1:56 remaining, the Ravens took over at their own 26-yard line with one time out. Then it took 57 seconds to run two plays. On the game’s final play, Jackson was sacked from behind by linebacker Alex Highsmith. “It wasn’t good enough,” coach John Harbaugh said of the operation. “I’ll just leave it at that. Suffice to say that we have to be better in those situations. “We weren’t in the right spot all the time. We had to flip a formation one time, basically, the one time that the clock was running on us; we had to change the side that we were aligned on.” Second-to-last possession: On a fourth-and-5 from the Steelers’ 8 with 2:28 remaining, receiver DeAndre Hopkins flashed open in the back of the end zone. Jackson, avoiding the rush, threw over the middle, but Andrews, well-covered on the crossing route, couldn’t haul it in the pass, which was also tipped slightly. Who the pass was intended for, though, is unclear. Harbaugh said Monday that he hadn’t yet talked to Jackson about the play and said he wasn’t sure who he was trying to throw to. A division can change on a dime @InsideTheNFL | @Steelers pic.twitter.com/Ni0xgHbMhM — NFL Films (@NFLFilms) December 8, 2025 Other fourth quarter throws: Early on, Jackson connected with Zay Flowers along the right sideline for a 35-yard gain, his longest completion of the day. He also had Rashod Bateman streaking open down the middle of the field. But with right guard Daniel Faalele unable to hold his block, Jackson drifted to the right and threw off-balance to Flowers, who had to adjust his body to make the catch. The Ravens settled for a 36-yard field goal on the drive. Later in the quarter, Jackson also had backs Derrick Henry and Rasheen Ali open in the flat on two separate plays but he didn’t see the former and later short-armed the latter. One commonality was that Pittsburgh’s pass rush, which generated 25 pressures (including 16 in true passing sets), per Pro Football Focus, was bothersome on both and Faalele at one point ending up on his backside, resulting in Jackson throwing incomplete to fullback Patrick Ricard instead of Ali. Second quarter: The most inexplicable pass Jackson threw came on an ill-fated attempt to Ali that was intercepted by the quarterback’s cousin, cornerback James Pierre. On a third-and-4 from his own 32, Jackson scrambled away from pressure to the right, Ali slipped behind his defender and Jackson said he threw the ball “too light,” as Pierre easily snatched it. Orlovsky said the easy throw was off “by 3 yards.” That led to an eventual Steelers touchdown and 17-3 lead. James Pierre picks off Lamar PITvsBAL on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/3qAvdHjLFF — NFL (@NFL) December 7, 2025 First quarter: On the fifth play of the game, Flowers raced down the right sideline and got behind safety and former Raven Chuck Clark. Jackson hit him for a 31-yard gain. But the ball had drifted too far toward the sideline — perhaps from a breeze and/or bad footwork — and Flowers had to contort his body to make an over-the-shoulder catch. A few plays later, Flowers had to slow down to try to catch an end zone fade on third down that was consequently broken up by cornerback Brandin Echols. On Baltimore’s second possession, Jackson scrambled up the middle before sliding for a 4-yard gain. He has said often in the past he doesn’t like to slide and often hasn’t. That hasn’t always been the case lately, though, and had the quarterback, who has dealt with hamstring, knee, ankle and toe injuries, stayed on his feet, there was a sizable opening ahead and to his right. Of course, later in the quarter, Echols raced around the massive Faalele and easily sacked Jackson. Other throws that were badly off-target in the opening quarter included a rollout to the right in which Flowers was open and Jackson again threw erratically to the sideline and incomplete as well as a crossing route late in the quarter that Jackson was incomplete on with the ball behind Flowers. Still, the belief in the building is that the Ravens can turn things around. “He is Lamar Jackson, and he is that great of a player,” Andrews said last week. “So, [I have] full confidence in him, always and forever.” Jackson is also aware of what little margin for error remains. “I feel like each and every week there’s no room for error,” he said. “You just have to lock in and put it all on the line.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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