At this point, Lamar Jackson might be able to do anything with his feet on the football field.
Because on Thursday night in the third quarter in Baltimore, he turned a play that appeared dead into a near touchdown in the blink of an eye in a play that ultimately helped the Ravens win a 35-34 thriller over the rival Bengals.
Jackson threw three fourth-quarter touchdown passes, and the Ravens stopped Cincinnati on a 2-point conversion with 38 seconds remaining to secure the victory.
The Ravens rallied from a 21-7 third-quarter deficit, overcoming a huge game from Cincinnati receiver Ja’Marr Chase, and the comeback started on the strength of Jackson’s impressive run.
With a third-and-9 at the Bengals’ 11-yard line, the Ravens quarterback took snap out of the shotgun and scrambled to his right.
And then scrambled back some more.
And then some more.
In all, he was chased by three Bengals defenders all the way back to around the 32-yard line.
But that’s when Jackson took off forward down the near sideline, tip-toeing to stay in bounds and avoiding the Bengals linebackers and secondary.
He then juked a smidge toward the middle of the field, getting the first down and nearly getting a touchdown before he was tackled at the 1-yard line.
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“Just trying to make something happen. That’s all that was,” Jackson said. “I was going to throw the ball away, but when I turned I had room.”
Officially, it was only a 10-yard gain, but, according to Next Gen Stats, he totaled 58.1 yards with his feet on the run.
It was an unbelievable play, and it set up a Derrick Henry touchdown on the next play, cutting the Bengals lead to 21-15.
“It starts with Lamar, and oftentimes it ends with Lamar,” Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said. “But in between Lamar and Lamar, there’s a lot of great players out there that are surrounding him. I think that’s kind of where our offense is at right now.”
Jackson finished the strong night with 290 passing yards, four touchdowns (no interceptions) and 33 rushing yards in a big AFC North victory.
— with AP
