Jackson Bests Rookie Nix as Ravens Get Back on Track

A New Era in Baltimore

It’s crazy to think how far this Ravens offense has progressed from a skill position standpoint during Lamar Jackson‘s tenure. Sunday’s performance was just another example of how dominant Baltimore can be on his side of the ball when at the top of their game.

The question all week was, how would Baltimore respond following a disappointing performance a week ago in Cleveland? Things were never expected to be easy as Denver entered Week 9 giving up the fewest yards per play in the NFL. The Ravens offense came out a bit slow to start things off, managing to pick up just five yards en route to a three-and-out.

From there though, it’d be all Baltimore, as the home team put points on the board on their next seven drives.

Jackson was in his bag Sunday, connecting on 16 of his 19 pass attempts, for 280 yards and three touchdowns. It’s also the first time this season the Ravens quarterback finished a game without a designed run. Coming in, the Broncos had run man coverage at the league’s 3rd-highest rate this season, but against Jackson, Denver elected to carry more of a zone gameplan into the matchup, as they were in man coverage at a season-low 17.4% of dropbacks. When facing that zone coverage, Jackson had zero issues finding success against a top 5 pass defense. Lamar was more than stellar, throwing for 260 yards and two touchdowns against zone, on his way to putting up a perfect passer rating of 158.3, according to Next Gen Stats.

It’s a new look for this Ravens offense, putting their true dual-threat ability on display against Sean Payton’s Broncos. Picking up 396 yards of total offense, the Ravens were able to find success both through the air and on the ground despite the slow start from Derrick Henry.

The weapons are a quarterback’s dream, as everyone seems to be firing on all cylinders (outside of last week’s issue with drops). It’s the 6th straight season Jackson’s Ravens exit Week 9 with a record of 6-3 or better, and another win over a rookie quarterback, moving Lamar to 9-0 in such games. Through nine games, Jackson is off to the best start of his career, passing for a career-high 20 touchdowns to just two interceptions, 11 more touchdowns at this point than during his 2023 MVP season.

Sunday just seemed like another day in the office for Jackson, as he looks poised to make a potential run for a second-straight, and third career, NFL MVP.

Nix Gets Knicked

Bo Nix entered Week 9 as one of the hottest rookies in the league, having picked up wins in five of his last six games while throwing for 8 TDs and just a single interception. Set to play the league’s worst pass defense, all signs pointed to another dominant showing from the first-round quarterback.

Unfortunately for Nix, the Ravens defense came looking to rewrite the narrative surrounding their recent performances. On just the second play, Baltimore forced an interception, Nix’s first since Week 6 against the Chargers. It’d be the start of what was soon to be a long afternoon for the rookie out of Oregon, during which he’d complete 19 of his 33 pass attempts for 223 yards. Going just 1-for-5 on fourth down conversions, the Broncos offense struggled to sustain drives, leading to just 10 points, their lowest total in a loss since Week 2. Baltimore’s defense found ways to get to Nix despite three guys missing up front, sacking the Broncos quarterback four times, their most since Week 2 against the Raiders.

Nix may have struggled to find the end zone through the passing game, but a trick play that looked a lot like the famous Philly Special allowed the rookie to pick up his first career receiving touchdown. According to Next Gen Stats, the Broncos had a 21.9% completion probability on Nix’s touchdown, the most improbable completion targeting a QB in the last seven seasons.

It was ultimately a disappointing performance from the Broncos altogether though, as they’d hoped to announce themselves as a true up and coming AFC force. With few positives to take away from the game, Denver and Nix will look to respond and continue to stay in the playoff hunt as the season progresses.

A Look Around the AFC North 

Cincinnati entered Week 9 with the lowly Raiders coming to town, looking to keep their season alive. At just 3-5, the Bengals were on the hunt for their first home win of the season. The offense showed up in a big way, tying a season high 41 points en route to a 41-24 win. Joe Burrow put up an eye-popping performance, tying his career-high with five touchdown passes and throwing for 251 yards. Even a pick six couldn’t dampen his day much, as Burrow picked apart the Raiders on intermediate passes, completing five of his seven pass attempts for 101 yards and three touchdowns on passes of 10-19 yards. It’s the second time this season Burrow has thrown five touchdown passes, with the other coming in Week 5 against the Ravens. More impressive was that it was the second consecutive game without Tee Higgins, as the star receiver continues to battle a quad injury. With Tuesday’s trade deadline approaching, Higgins has been deemed by some as a “shocking” trade candidate with contract questions continuing to hang around.

The Cleveland Browns didn’t waste much time returning to their old form Sunday against the Chargers. Following an upset win over the Ravens last week, NFL fans were treated to the true Jameis Winston experience, as the quarterback managed to complete just 50% of his passes to pair with his three interceptions. The Browns offense just couldn’t seem to find success, gaining just 292 yards of total offense. For a team that’s leaned so heavily on the run game these last few seasons, Cleveland can’t seem to find a true identity offensively in 2024. Nick Chubb is back and the feel good story and nice to see back on the field. However, he finished Sunday with just 2.6 yards per carry, and has thus far been unable to find the kind of past success that’s allowed this offense to move the ball. With Amari Cooper already sent to Buffalo, there’s not much offensively to choose from ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline. Sitting at just 2-7, you’d have to imagine a defensive yard sale is coming as Cleveland looks to acquire some picks ahead of the 2025 draft.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/11/04/monday-morning-qb-talk/lamar-jackson-bo-nix/