2019 Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images
Lamar Jackson has left plenty of coaches wondering what happened. Now that he's dominating the NFL, one high school coach enjoyed a sigh of relief.
- Lamar Jackson has been unstoppable during the 2019 season, leading the Ravens to a 14-2 record and a chance at winning Super Bowl LIV.
- Jackson's dominance comes from his unique ability to beat defenses both through the air and on the ground, leaving opposing coaches to effectively choose their own demise.
- It's a problem Jackson has presented to opposing coaches since high school, with one only finding relief when he saw Jackson go on to similarly tear apart opposing college and NFL coaches later in his career.
- Titans coach Mike Vrabel, who is charged with stopping Jackson this weekend, joked that he didn't really have a plan to do so, "other than try to tie his shoelaces together."
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Through the 2019 NFL season, Lamar Jackson has been unstoppable.
The second-year quarterback led the Ravens to a 14-2 record in the regular season, is a lock to win league MVP, and is now preparing to lead Baltimore on a possible run all the way to a Super Bowl title.
Jackson's dominance is a product of the particular problem he presents to opposing defenses - he can beat you both as a passer and as a rusher.
In his first full season as a starting quarterback, Jackson threw for five touchdowns on three separate occasions and led the league in touchdown passes with 36 on the year. He also had five games of 100 rushing yards or more, finishing the year with 1,206 yards on the ground, better than all but five running backs in the league.
Jackson is such a problem for opposing defenses that even Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, who is facing off against Jackson this weekend, admitted he didn't really know how to stop him.
It's not the first time Jackson has been dominant. In college, Jackson won the Heisman Trophy in 2016 while leading Louisville to a 9-4 record and putting up a monstrous 51 touchdowns - 30 through the air, 21 on the ground.
In high school, Jackson was so good he once sent an opposing head coach into what sounds like an existential crisis. According to a story from Kevin Clark at The Ringer, while playing for Boynton Beach high school, Jackson all but broke the will of Village Academy coach Don Hanna.
Jackson had dominated Village Academy on the ground in their initial meeting, but after some film study, Hanna believed he had developed a plan to contain Jackson.
From Clark:
"We're feeling more confident of being able to contain him-not shut him down-but slow him down and contain him. We had film on him. We felt better. Then, we do a very good job of slowing him down running, and he starts using the arm. He beats us in the air," Hanna told me. "I'm saying, 'I can't believe this.'" Hanna was devastated. "I started to question, 'What are we doing as coaches?' I looked in the mirror. 'Is there something I am not doing to put my kids in position to be successful?'"
For a while, the loss stuck with Hanna, but as he went on to watch the success Jackson has had in college and the NFL, it's been easier to let go of Jackson's overpowering performance:
"Fast-forward two years later and I'm watching Florida State and Louisville. I can't believe what he's doing against one of the top teams in college football. I feel a lot better," Hanna said. "Fast-forward another two years, he's in the NFL, and no one can tackle him, and I said, 'I can't believe this.' Fast-forward to this year, and I feel like, 'Hey, maybe I should go coach in the NFL.' I did just as good of a job stopping him."
There was no way for Hanna to have known at the time, but he hadn't missed a thing in his scouting report of Jackson. Instead, he had simply realized what many more opposing coaches would come to face in the near future - Jackson is impossible to stop.
Read Clark's full story on Jackson here.
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Mike Vrabel was asked about his plan to slow down Lamar Jackson ...
He's considering some old-school tactics 😏 (via @jamisonhensley) pic.twitter.com/jKHEvX8ZeH
- ESPN (@espn) January 7, 2020