OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh doesn’t understand the preseason narrative that this was the year when the league was going to catch up to quarterback Lamar Jackson.
“If you’re looking for your headline here, I think the people who make those statements are kind of whistling in the graveyard just a little bit,” Harbaugh said Monday. “It doesn’t have any meaning. Anybody who knows X’s and O’s are rolling their eyes when they hear something like that.”
In August, people around the league told ESPN: “This might be the year that everybody figures out Lamar Jackson.”
In leading the Ravens to a 5-1 record, Jackson has been one of the most explosive players in the league, ranking sixth in the NFL in passing (1,686) and seventh in rushing (392). In Sunday’s 34-6 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, Jackson set the NFL record for most wins (35) under the age of 25.
Harbaugh said defenses play Jackson and the Baltimore offense differently from other teams. He rarely sees the same scheme from any team that he has watched on tape the previous weeks.
“I don’t think once somebody does something — some X-and-O idea — all of a sudden that’s the answer,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve kind of been saying that for three years now. There is no answer. You’ve got to play well. You’ve got to execute. Whoever executes better and makes plays, really, in the end is going to win. It’s less about figuring somebody out.”