A Look at Lamar Jackson's Performance Under Pressure

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is having solid season.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Lamar Jackson has faced a heavy blitz most of the season.

He's had mixed results.

Jackson has a 45.7 Passing Grade Under Pressure, which ranks 20th in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus. 

His "big-time throw percentage" is at 6.8% through Week 7, but he has a 4.7% "turnover-worthy percentage" Jackson has also thrown two interceptions under pressure, but he possesses one of the highest average depths of target under duress (14.3) this season.

However, Jackson has a 102.1 rating (61 of 104 for 756 yds with 9 touchdowns and 2 interceptions) against the blitz, ranked 11th in the NFL, according to TruMedia. He has 115 dropbacks vs blitz — most in NFL and the next closest is Matt Ryan with 86. 

The @Ravens are finally finding ways to close out football games, which could mean serious trouble for the rest of the NFL.#RavensFlock #RavensFootballhttps://t.co/darhFH8p8z

— Todd Karpovich (@toddkarpovich) October 29, 2022

Ravens coach John Harbaugh said blitz-happy teams are often challenging to defend. 

"You have to block it; that’s the first thing you have to do," Harbaugh said. "If you don’t have someone to block, you have to understand who’s going to be free and you have to understand what your outlet answer is going to be. Sometimes it’s a pass; sometimes it’s a run. So, you just have to be able to block whatever it is. 

"That’s the challenging part because you don’t exactly know that it’s coming when it’s coming, [or] where it’s coming from. You have to react very fast, and they play downhill."

On the season, Jackson has completed 148 of 235 pass attempts (62.98 percent) with 87 incompletions, He has thrown for 1,635 yards with 15 touchdowns and 6 interceptions for 94.2 QBR.

Jackson has been stellar under center, completing 34 of 43 pass attempts for 343 yards with 4 touchdowns, 18 first downs, and 0 interceptions for a 130.9 rating.

He has also been mostly solid in the red zone even though the Ravens have left an impression they have struggled inside the 20. Jackson is 23 of 43 for 169 yards 12 touchdowns and 1 interception for a 92.9 rating.

 I feel like this whole season we’ve been driving the ball down the field; it’s just been the red zone or a little bit outside the red zone, and we’ve just got to finish there. But we’re making progress. But like I said yesterday, we don’t want ‘Tuck’ [Justin Tucker] kicking field goals for us and for that to be our points. We want seven points each and every time we’re out there on that field. It’s NFL football, so it might not happen how we want it to, but we’ve just got to keep going.”