Ravens WATCH: QB Lamar Jackson Has Nothing But Love For OC Todd Monken's New System
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson seems to be excited about the upcoming season. I mean, really excited.
New offensive coordinator Todd Monken is bringing a new system with him to Baltimore, and Jackson seems to be a perfect fit.
Jackson is so excited he decided to interview himself about it. The "exclusive interview" will be made available for those who subscribe to his Lamar Jackson Entertainment YouTube page, but he released a preview clip on his Instagram page.
Jackson commented on criticism he's received about being a running back playing the quarterback position.
"The biggest thing for me, coming out of college, entering a west coast system was terminology," Jackson stated in the video. "I feel like the passing concepts are pretty similar. ... It was just me ... learning protection at the line of scrimmage and calling plays in the huddle.
"In youth football, I used to call plays in the huddle and high school, no-huddle, and in college same thing. But now I gotta tell a bunch of grown men the plays, the protection. Really the terminology with the west coast system, just me calling plays was it."
Regardless of his ability to run the ball with success, Jackson has always preferred to throw first.
“Sometimes we can’t ... Running can only take you so far, and I feel like, with this new era of teams and offenses in the league, I feel like we need that,” Jackson said. “And Coach Todd Monken, what I’m seeing in his offense so far is looking tremendous.”
While the pocket passer is something of an antique in the NFL these days, he's always itching to show his passing talents before running downfield. And it sounds like Monken's system is perfectly matched.
“The new offense is smooth,” Jackson said. “[There is] more verbiage than usual. I like it. I’m loving it so far. “Coach [Todd Monken] is basically just giving us the keys to the offense, really. And like I said, I’m loving it. “You can change things when you want to. You see the defense, [and if] it’s not looking right to you, you see a guy blitzing, [or] you might want your receiver to do something different, Coach has given you the free will to do whatever you want to.”
Jackson and the Ravens kick off the 2023 preseason on August 12 against the Eagles at M&T Bank Stadium and the regular season on Sept. 10 at home against the new-look Houston Texans.
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