Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson 'One of The Rare Guys!' Says Todd Monken
Todd Monken is only 13 games into his Baltimore Ravens career, and he has already seen the offense under his command become the fourth-ranked in the NFL (27.8 p/g).
Part of that is due to quarterback Lamar Jackson, who Monken gave the keys to the offense back in training camp. As the Ravens have won seven out of their last eight, they are positioning themselves well for a Super Bowl tilt.
Against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 14, Baltimore needed overtime to get past Sean McVay's team, but it was the work of Jackson late in the fourth quarter as he led a 15-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to put Baltimore up by three points.
For Monken, given Lamar's confidence in his ability, those clutch moments never seem too big for him.
“First of all, he’s already very confident in his ability,” Monken said. “He loves playing football, he’s one of the rare guys I’ve been around, there’s guys that like football, he loves football, he loves to play. So those moments never get too big for him, from what I’ve seen, I’ve been here 13 games, that’s a pretty short stay. But it doesn’t feel that way. The more often you’re able to have success, certainly, it builds confidence with your ability to feel like you’re never out of it.”
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens tackle the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday night.
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The Ravens control their playoff destiny as it stands - win out and the Super Bowl will run through Baltimore. But while that seems good in theory, there are still a couple of daunting tasks ahead of Jackson's Ravens.
Games against the San Francisco 49ers and the Miami Dolphins are on the schedule, so while Baltimore now looks to be in a commanding position, that could change rather quickly over the coming weeks.
But with a "rare guy" like Lamar, the Ravens will always fancy their chances of going on a deep playoff run, and with each passing week that Jackson shows his ability to come up big in clutch moments, Baltimore will always feel like they're never out of the game.
Which is an important trait to have when the playoffs roll around.
