Early in the first half this past week against the Cleveland Browns, Lamar Jackson aired out a deep pass for Zay Flowers streaking down the right sideline. Flowers had a step or two on his defender, but Jackson’s pass sailed about three yards too far and fell incomplete.
On the Ravens’ next possession, Jackson tried to throw deep to Rashod Bateman, but the pass was badly underthrown and intercepted by Cleveland’s Mike Ford.
Those two passes continued what has been a troubling trend for Jackson: In the midst of a season in which Jackson is completing passes at a career-best rate (70.3 percent), he is not connecting on the deep balls that can be game-changers — and the opportunities have been there.
Against Seattle two weeks ago, Rashod Bateman got behind the defense twice, but Jackson’s passes were well overthrown. On passes of at least 20 yards in the past three games, Jackson is 1-for-7 with one interception, according to NFL’s NextGen Stats. Since Week 6, he’s 3-for-13 for 89 yards.
According to Pro Football Focus, Jackson on deep passes this year is 11-for-35 for 350 yards. His completion percentage on such passes of .314 ranks 26th among quarterbacks who have thrown at least 100 passes.
Last season, Jackson completed 29.8 percent of his deep passes (14 of 47), according to PFF. Patrick Mahomes, by comparison, completed 44.3 percent of such balls in 2022. Joe Burrow, who comes to M&T Bank Stadium with the Cincinnati Bengals on Nov. 16 for a highly anticipated “Thursday Night Football” showdown, completed 39.1 percent.
Both Jackson and head coach John Harbaugh said the offense regularly hits on those passes in practice.
“Those guys catch the ball … 40 yards, 50 yards down the field,” Jackson said this week. “We need to transition that over to games, that’s all.”
Bateman, one of the Ravens’ top vertical, field-stretching threats, called the deep passing game “a work in progress for sure, but that’s what practice is for.”
According to PFF, Jackson has gone 1-for-7 this year targeting Bateman deep.
“We’ll connect when it’s time to connect,” Bateman added. “Lamar is holding himself to a high standard, and I know I do as well, so we’ll get it, but in due time.”
In many other ways, Jackson is enjoying one of the most productive seasons of his career as a passer under new coordinator Todd Monken and the rebuilt receiver room. In addition to a career-best completion percentage — which ranks second in the league behind Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys — Jackson is on pace to throw for 3,700 yards, which would easily top his career high of 3,127, set during his MVP season of 2019.
Through 10 games, Jackson is 194 for 276 for 2,177 yards, with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Still, when the Ravens miss on those deep shots, they are leaving points left on the field. That might not matter in a blowout win such as the 37-3 romp against Seattle, but in close games such as the loss to the Browns this past week, that can be costly.
“We chase it all the time,” Harbaugh said last week. “We’re hitting them in practice regularly. Sometimes things come up. I think sometimes you make a decision maybe just to throw it away. Other times, you might be a step or two farther than you want or shorter than you want. But all in all, I’m very confident in our deep passing game. I’m very certain that we’re going to make those plays in the coming weeks.”
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