The Patriots ran into somewhat of a buzzsaw Sunday night in Baltimore.
New England had no answer for Lamar Jackson, who collected three total touchdowns (two rushing, one throwing) in the Ravens’ 37-20 win over the reigning Super Bowl champions at M&T Bank Stadium. It wasn’t an abysmal showing by the Patriots by any means, but they struggled mightily to keep Jackson and Co. off the field.
Colin Cowherd on Monday tipped his cap to the second-year signal-caller while reviewing Patriots-Ravens in his weekly “3-Word Game.” “The Herd” host can’t imagine how tough it must be to prepare for a player as dynamic as the Ravens QB.
“Patriots-Ravens: Lights, camera, Jackson,” Cowherd said. “Lamar Jackson is now 11-1 when he faces teams for the first time. They’re fun. Big tight ends, run the football. I find them fascinating. We only have pads one day a week now in the NFL, so good luck practicing. You know, they keep saying the NFC is better than the AFC. There’s nothing like this in the NFC. In the NFC, all the quarterbacks sit back in the pocket and throw it around. In the AFC, I gotta face Deshaun Watson, I gotta face Lamar Jackson. If I was a defensive coordinator, I’d rather face other guys.”
The Patriots are able to make proper adjustments like few other teams in the league, an attribute that’s been a staple of the organization throughout the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era. So if New England was to meet Baltimore in January, one has to imagine the course of the contest would play out much different than it did in Week 9. As former Pats linebacker Tedy Bruschi noted shortly after Sunday’s game, an ass-kicking in primetime likely will benefit the team in the long run.
