Lamar Jackson continues to amaze and daze people with his playmaking abilities, particularly his rushing, solidifying himself as the best dual-threat QB ever to play in the NFL. This season, he further honed his abilities as a pocket passer, with Derrick Henry in his backfield.
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However, like most QBs, he’s fallible and has mistakes in him. Cam Newton broke down the 2-time MVP’s film, and highlights some of his problematic plays, which he calls “Dumbass Plays”.
During the latest episode of 4th&1, Cam highlighted two of Lamar’s plays from the Ravens OT shootout win over the Bengals. In his first, the Louisville Alum got out of pocket after protection broke down. He first went back, then sideways to his left, and then forward to make a play on third down but ultimately ended up throwing it out of bounds.
On the next play—a third-down conversion in the red zone—the 2-time MVP fumbled the snap but quickly picked it up, scrambling backward to his right. Pursued by multiple defenders, he threw toward the end zone just before stepping out of bounds, finding a receiver for a touchdown in an improbable play.
These were back-to-back plays that few quarterbacks could have pulled off. As Cam Newton observed, most quarterbacks would have thrown the ball away or taken a sack in those situations, given how unconventional and risky the plays were. Plays like these can make fans hold their breath, unsure of what’s next, but they’re also exhilarating when they work.
Cam insisted that fans should expect these kinds of plays if they want a playmaker like Lamar as their quarterback. The Bengals need to be prepared for and target these nerve-wracking moments.
” That is not a good play by Lamar Jackson. This is the message to all fans- you can’t get mad, knowing you have a playmaker at the helm. For every ten of those plays, you got to expect about three dumbass plays.”
Bad plays are part and part of the game alongside great big plays and Cam feels that fans should accept that.
Cam admitted that no one can make big plays every time
During the same segment of the show, Newton pointed out that crappy and broken plays, which fans sometimes roll their eyes at are part of the game Even QBs like Lamar cannot deliver great plays all the time and one cannot expect him to. He’s bound to commit mistakes one time or another but fans should be able to handle that knowing well that the next play could be a big game-changing one.
” You can’t just be only recipients of big plays because bad plays happen too. F*cked-up plays happen too. That’s just what comes with a playmaker. It’s all part of the package of the playmaker.”
As the Bengals face the Ravens, they should expect these kinds of plays out of Lamar Jackson because he showed them last time that he can do everything. He can do it on the ground and he can do it in the air. The 2-time MVP can go toe-to-toe with Burrow when it comes to being a pocket passer and throwing TDs.
They can out-gain and outscore their opponents. If they stop him from rushing, they have Henry to do the damage like he did last time, setting up a game-winning field goal.
