Once again, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson couldn’t put up the same numbers against the Pittsburgh Steelers he regularly does versus the rest of the National Football League.
In an 18-16 loss on the road, Jackson’s quarterback rating was 66.1, about half where it had been (123.2) for the season entering this game. He also completed just 48.5% of his passes on Sunday, a significant drop-off from the 69.1% completion rate he was at before this game.
His yards per attempt at Pittsburgh today was three below his season average.
“I don’t know what it is, man,” Jackson said, somewhat presciently, heading into this game.
Compounding the problem was that he threw his third interception of the season. He had thrown just two in 10 games and 288 attempts entering this massive divisional clash.
In the run-up to this game, head coach John Harbaugh discussed how well his franchise quarterback had been handling the football.
“I think Lamar has just been intentional about playing as well as he can across the board, and that’s a big part of it,” Harbaugh said, as cited in ESPN.
“There are so many things that go into playing the quarterback position, and then so many things that go into the thing that you’re talking about, as well.
“We’ve improved greatly in those huddle, pre-snap communication areas; we have to continue to get better at that and then operating the plays at a high level.
“So, all of those things go into it, and all of us would say we have to continue to improve with a sense of urgency in everything we’re doing.”
The subpar performance dropped Jackson’s record at Heinz Field/Acrisure Stadium to just 1-4. In those games, he’s accounted for five touchdowns versus 11 turnovers, completing 56.7% of his passes while guiding the Ravens to just 19 ppg.
