PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – “I think he says f--- it and just plays football and just go out there and make plays.”
It’s what Lamar Jackson’s friend and former teammate Patrick Queen says of the mindset the Ravens quarterback plays at this time of year. Jackson has his most yards per game rushing (67.7) in December and his most yards per attempt passing (8.8) in the final full month of the season. He also has more overall touchdowns in his career in December, 51, than in any other month and that’s with playing only 22 games (the fewest games of any month of his career).
“Anytime he can make a play, he will try and make that play,” Queen said. “I don’t think he holds anything back, especially at the end of the season, everything is on the line.”
“You definitely see that now, him lowering his shoulder. Him stiff-arming a guy out of bounds, which is just crazy. Him pushing the ball down the field, there are a lot more plays he’s trying to make.”
Last week, albeit against the Giants, in just 49 snaps, he was 21-25 for 290 yards, five touchdowns and ran six times for 65 yards. The week before against the Eagles he accounted for 316 total yards and a pair of scores.
The 27-year-old Jackson is tied for the AFC lead with 12 pass plays of 40 or more yards. The 34 passing touchdowns are second in the NFL. Lamar has the best touchdown-to-interception ratio in the league. He leads the NFL is touchdown percentage, yards per attempt and quarterback rating. He also leads the league at 6.4 yards per rush and 23rd in the league in overall rushing yards (743) including six plays of 20-or-more yards.
“Lamar is the most electric guy in the league right now,” said Steelers captain Cam Heyward. “The shiftiness, the play extension. He is second to none in that regard. He’s got an arm that is a cannon. I don’t think anyone compares to him right now.”
“He’s the best in the world at what he does,” Queen said. “Anytime you have to prepare for a guy like that, I’m sitting there watching film and me being the type of player I am, I’m trying to stop that. Whoever makes the most plays is going to win it.”
The Steelers go up against Jackson and the Ravens after being pushed around, run around and run by in Philadelphia on Sunday. Queen said they need to get better at fundamentals. He said there were two tackles he should have made and all can look in the mirror and know they got to get better.
“It’s not acceptable,” Queen said.
Heyward said execution and communication were simply not up to par. He noted a turnover could be the difference, saying forcing a Derrick Henry fumble early in the November matchup really set the tone for that game.
“It comes down to execution and communication,” said linebacker Payton Wilson. “It’s very simple stuff that we thought we fixed from the beginning of the season kinda showed back up. Honing back in on those small things like communicating. Hopefully we get some of the guys back, that would be big.”
TJ Watt chief among them, the Steelers co-defensive captain, has 17 career sacks, 33 quarterback hits and 55 solo tackles against Baltimore (most against any team) with 22 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles. Defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi was third on the team with five tackles in the November win and safety DeShon Elliott has 24 tackles in his last two games.
Then there is help they need.
“To beat quarterbacks like this, you have to keep them off the field,” Payton Wilson said. “You have to take possessions away from them. That’s how you keep them off the field. You get Russ on the field. You get Naj on the field, those guys that can score and steal possessions from these all-time quarterbacks is very important.”
In the 18-16 win in November, Steelers held the ball for 36:22 to the Ravens 23:38.
It’s a team effort to slow down Lamar Jackson, they’ve done it better than any team in the league. They do it on Saturday and got a great chance to win the division for the first time in five years.
“It’s big, obviously playing for a hat and a T-shirt after this one,” Wilson said. “There’s a lot of weight on it. To be a part of it, I’m grateful. Obviously the first one we got the win, but that means nothing. We got to go out and execute.”