To defeat the Minnesota Vikings, Lamar Jackson knows he must dissect their blitz.
According to Next Gen Stats, the Vikings are second in the league in blitz percentage (43.7%), only trailing the Atlanta Falcons. The Ravens' opponent last week, the Miami Dolphins, is third (36.5%). Jackson picked the Dolphins and their blitzes apart after missing three games with a hamstring injury, earning AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.
As Jackson continues to evolve, blitzing him does not necessarily lead to beating him. If the Vikings often come with the blitz, Jackson plans to be the boss.
"I tried to focus on everything I could to get better, and blitzing was one of them, because early on in my career, I was getting sacked like crazy," Jackson said. "[With] me just getting older in my career – [in my] eighth year – it's like, man, we have to get the ball out, have to know where the protection [is], where the hots are and just execute."
This will be Jackson's first encounter with Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores as a play caller since 2021, when he was head coach of the Dolphins. In November of that year, the Dolphins defeated the Ravens, 22-10, after Flores deployed a plethora of blitzes that held Baltimore to a season-low 10 points. Jackson was sacked four times, and Baltimore's offense was rendered largely ineffective.
Over the last four years, the Ravens have developed more answers for the blitz, and what transpired when facing Flores four years ago was part of the process.
"We certainly remember that game," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "It definitely was a key game in the evolution of the offense, for sure.
"They still run some of those blitzes, but they're much more evolved now. … You have to be prepared for everything. Offensively, we have all the tools to do that. Lamar, he's been doing well with that really for a long time now, but we're going to have to be on point."
It will be a game of cat-and-mouse, with Jackson trying to anticipate when the Vikings might blitz, where the pressure may come from, and where it will leave them vulnerable. The intense crowd noise at U.S. Bank Stadium will make it a greater challenge for the Ravens' offense to communicate once breaking the huddle.
The Ravens are getting accustomed to that intense noise throughout the week, blaring the Vikings' signature Gjallarhorn sound at practice.
"I think at home, that's something that they really play into – the idea that the [opposing] offense is going to have a tough time communicating and see if they can get the offense on their heels and get them discombobulated," Harbaugh said. "We're going to work really hard to not allow that to happen."
This will be Jackson's first game in Minnesota, and he's not making the trip with trepidation about the crowd noise.
"I don't focus on it. I play football," Jackson said. "I've been in loud environments before. I don't let anything get to me."
Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews has been Jackson's teammate for eight years, and they have seen just about everything a defense can throw at them. That's one of Jackson's greatest gifts, according to Andrews. The two-time MVP has never settled for being great, but he strives to become even greater.
"Lamar has gotten better each and every year at seeing the game," Andrews said. "He sees the full picture of everything of what's going on and is able to get the ball out to the open guy, time after time, blitz after blitz. It's tough to blitz a guy like that because of how good he is with obviously his arm, but his feet, too."
Jackson anticipated that there would be questions this week about what happened to him when facing Flores' blitz schemes in 2021. He's also expecting to see the Vikings bring new wrinkles on Sunday.
At 3-5 following two straight victories, Baltimore needs to win and can't afford to be thrown off course by Minnesota's defensive scheme. What happened against the blitz in Miami four years ago isn't at the front of Jackson's mind, but what will happen on Sunday is.
"We can't focus on that [2021 game]," Jackson said. "We have to focus on everything, because we don't know; they might play a zone game. We just have to be prepared for everything."
