Opponents Are 'Whistling In Graveyard' Who Say They've Figured Out Lamar Jackson

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Teams that say they figured out how to stop Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson are just "whistling in the graveyard," according to coach John Harbaugh.

There was an early narrative this season that opponents had enough film and background to contain Jackson.

However, he's responded with an MVP-caliber performance over the first six games of 2021.

Jackson is not only beating teams with his ability to run the football, but he's also making them pay for stacking the box by making explosive plays downfield to his wide receivers.

If teams have figured Jackson out, they must be the ones the Ravens have not played.

"If you’re looking for your headline here, I do think that people who make those statements are kind of, ‘Whistling in the graveyard’ just a little bit," Harbaugh said. "It doesn’t have any meaning; I’ve said that before. Anybody that knows X’s and O’s would just kind of roll their eyes when they hear something like that.”

Jackson is ranked ninth in the NFL with 1,686 yards passing. He has thrown for nine touchdowns with six interceptions.

He also leads the team with 392 yards rushing with another two scores.

The Ravens have the best record in the AFC at 5-1 despite dealing with a myriad of injuries on both sides of the ball.

“I think he’s played phenomenally well," Harbaugh said about Jackson. "We’ve seen some different things from defenses. I think we’ve seen the same kind of basic principles that we saw for the last two-and-a-half, three years. It’s oftentimes something different, related around whatever their base structure and their principles are.

"So, we never see the exact same thing, from any team, that we’ve been seeing on tape. We always see something different – we did even this week – and we kind of expect that now, we plan for that. We’re starting to see kind of all the options, but just when we think we’ve seen it all, we see something different."