How the Giants Hope to Slow Down Ravens QB Lamar Jackson

If the New York Giants are to have any chance at upsetting the Baltimore Ravens Sunday, they must find a way to slow down the league’s reigning MVP, Lamar Jackson.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is just one of those players.

You know, the kind, a guy who does so many things well and who creates matchup nightmares for a defense—a guy who can take over a game all by himself.

And a guy who opposing defenses must find a way to stop—easier said than done, though.

“I think with any of these quarterbacks, you have to go into the game and find ways of helping your team by trying to find a way to make them play left-handed, if you will,” said Giants head coach Joe Judge.

“I think when it comes down to him, it comes down to being disciplined and fundamentally sound. You have to be able to tackle in space--that’s the biggest thing.”

Judge, who saw Jackson in person last year as a member of the New England Patriots staff, said the most significant thing is how the quarterback's speed can catch an opponent off-guard.

“The thing I came away from that game saying was I didn’t realize he was that fast. You see him on tape running away from guys, you know he’s fast, but when you see guys in person and you watch them athletically up close, that’s sometimes when you have to realize that this guy’s a lot better than I thought he was on tape and you have a tremendous amount of respect for him on tape,” Judge said.

Simulating Jackson in practice is almost as difficult as facing the real thing, and with teams struggling to accomplish that simulation, Ryan believes it puts them teams at a disadvantage.

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“I think that’s why they get off to good starts is because he’s hard to simulate,” Ryan said. “He’s very, very talented, he’s very rare, and we’ll throw like bodies out there and have guys – some receivers, some whoever – to go simulate some of his running and put a quarterback to simulate his passing, but there’s not one guy who can do that all.”

Short of obtaining an exact duplicate of Jackson—or the real thing—the only thing the Giants can do is study every nuance of what Jackson does well and how it plays into the bigger picture on offense.

Cornerback James Bradberry believes one key to dealing with Jackson is not to allow him gobs of space in which to operate.

“Really just taking the air out of it. Getting close to him as fast as you can, but also, trying to get under control to where you’re able to cut left or right when he makes his cut,” Bradberry said.

“He’s an elite runner--he’s able to run full speed and make cuts on a dime. … When you add that skillset to a bigger guy who has a longer stride length, able to cover more ground, it makes it even harder to stop a guy like that.”

Slowing down Jackson won’t be easy, but Ryan likes the Giants’ matchup.

“I really like our front, I really like our ability to stop the run and that’s what we all have to commit to doing,” he said.

“We have to show up and do that and I think we will, and I think we can. We’ve just got to do it on Sunday. I think the difference here is go out here and get these turnovers, go out here and be disruptive to give our offense extra possessions, give our offense the ball to get the Ravens behind.”

That last part—getting the Ravens behind early—could be the biggest challenge of them all, given the struggles of the Giants' offense to score over the last three weeks. But Ryan believes if the Giants can take an early lead, that could change the Ravens offense's entire complexion and how they attack.

“The reason why my team had success against the Ravens last year is that we came out, we started fast, we got a lead and I think when you get a lead on the Ravens it makes them play behind, it changes their defense and their offensive schemes a little bit from playing from behind,” Ryan said.

“They’re built to play from ahead because they’re really good at running the ball, they’re really aggressive on defense and you want to get those guys behind on the scoreboard early. So, starting fast is a major point for us and be ready to go on Sunday, believe you can win the game. Be ready to go and start fast is definitely a key point for us.”

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