Lamar Jackson’s elite playmaking ability has never, and will never, be questioned. Once again, he proved he’s the best athlete on the field. However, an early trend in the Ravens’ 2022 season is how Jackson is outwitting his competition too. Jackson has always been a smart player, but Head Coach John Harbaugh pointed to improved pregame preparation making a difference.

Last week, Jackson managed the game at an “A-plus” level, negating the Miami Dolphins’ Cover-0 blitz that gave Baltimore fits a year ago. This week, Jackson was going against one of the league’s preeminent wizards in Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick. Belichick can change up his defense every week, and he and the Patriots rush had Jackson on the run early in the game.

But in the game of chess, Jackson was the king who kept darting away from checks and throwing counter moves. The Ravens offensive line settled in, the ground game got going, and Jackson took over (he has a lot more moves than a king). Jackson said the Patriots used lots of man coverage and mixed in a fair amount of blitzing, trying to see if Jackson could handle the pressure in back-to-back weeks. Was Jackson expecting that? “I was.”

Jackson responded with five touchdowns – four through the air and one on the ground. Jackson became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw three touchdowns and run for 100 yards in back-to-back games. After the game, Harbaugh gave Jackson a game ball for “taking the game on his shoulders.” Jackson explained it with signature succinctness: “I just got to do what I do, play Lamar football.”

It’s also time to give Greg Roman his props. The Ravens’ offensive coordinator had a fourth-round rookie who has never played left tackle out there and he kept dialing up play-calls to keep the Patriots defense on their heels