Dan Fouts is not known for emotional outbursts. The former quarterback of the San Diego Chargers, who was inducted into the American Football Hall of Fame in 1993, is one of those television experts who always express their enthusiasm in a sober, analytical and reserved manner.
Recently, however, Fouts went nuts. “How many ankles has Lamar Jackson broken this season?” He yelled while broadcasting a game from the National Football League (NFL). Freely translated: How many people did Lamar Jackson look old this season?
Baltimore is the best NFL team thanks to Lamar Jackson
You really can’t count them slowly anymore. On the home stretch of the NFL season – the regular season ends this Sunday and the play-offs begin on the first weekend in January – there is no doubt that Jackson was by far the most spectacular player in recent months. Thanks to their young quarterback, the Baltimore Ravens were the first team ever to qualify for the knockout phase, as the team with the best record of the regular season (13 wins, two losses), the Ravens also enjoy home rights if they win their games up to the Super Bowl design – an invaluable advantage in football.
The world’s largest single sporting event takes place in Miami on February 3 – and it would be a big surprise if Baltimore weren’t represented in the NFL final. After a mixed start, the Ravens have recently won eleven games in a row, overrun their opponents in phases and defeated such well-known teams as the favorite favorites San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. It’s almost logical that Lamar Jackson is also a favorite for the most valuable player of the season (MVP).
Jackson has revolutionized the game or at least given it a new level. Guys like him, the US experts call “Dual Threat Quarterback” because that’s exactly what it’s for the opposing defense: a double threat. The 22-year-old from Pompano Beach in the state of Florida fulfills all the criteria of a classic playmaker: he can throw the ball hard, precisely, quickly and, if necessary, far, put his passport recipients in the limelight and thus achieve great space savings.
However, it gets really dangerous and rousing when Jackson himself starts the ball. Then there is often a murmur from the audience and even the most athletic defenders suddenly look like cardboard mates. Jackson has already thrown 36 touchdown passes this season and has also carried the leatherwork himself seven times to the opposing end zone – two extraordinarily good values.
Recently, Jackson also broke the record for most quarterback-run yards in a season that was long held by former Atlanta Falcons playmaker Michael Vick. “When I was a little boy, Michael Vick was an idol to me, I adored him,” says Jackson, “so this record means a lot to me.”
In the literal sense, Vick was something like the forerunner for the Jackson generation: the first quarterback who just started running and plunged into the opposing defense with a mixture of euphoria and fatalism. He later gained notoriety as the organizer of illegal dog fights and went to prison.
“When Vick came to the NFL at the beginning of the millennium, everyone thought there would never be a player like this again,” says TV analyst Dan Fouts. “Today you have to say: We were completely wrong: Lamar Jackson is one class better.” However, the 22-year-old’s style of play also bears dangers. The quarterback in football is usually like the king in chess: he is the figure that must be protected under all circumstances.
Jackson doesn’t want to deal with potential risks
The offensive line, the very heavy boys in front of Jackson, are, so to speak, Jackson’s farmers and officers who hold their bodies for him and absorb hard tackles. However, when quarterbacks leave their protected zone – the so-called “pocket” – their special rights expire. Then they are kind of fair game and can be tackled like any other player on the field. A brutal tackle was once enough for the former star quarterback Kurt Warner to send him from the field to retirement forever.
So it can go damn fast in the bone mill NFL. Maybe that’s why Jackson doesn’t want to deal with potential injuries and the risks of his playing style. “I’m only concerned with this season and the chance to win the title.” To do this, the Ravens have three more games to win.
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