Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens are 6-6 heading into Sunday’s game with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and it’s clear that Jackson is not the same player while battling knee, ankle, and toe injuries this season.
He did practice on Wednesday, a good sign, but NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young says Jackson is “diminished” as a player.
“He’s diminished physically,” Young, a fellow mobile quarterback in his day, said Wednesday on “Pardon the Interruption.” “You can see it. And you can see it in his demeanor. You can see it in his play. It’s like, when you’re hurt and you can’t be all of yourself, and you get [injured], it kind of gets into your head.
“Now you’re not as good a passer. You’re not ahead of the data. You’re not seeing the open guy as much. You’re just diminished as a player, and you got to get back to health. And so I think the thing that’s shocking me is that the team is not responding by, ‘Look, Lamar, we’re going to ask less of you physically, but we still need you to play elite quarterback from the pocket and throw that ball over the field, and get those 350-yard, 400-yard games that you’ve had in the past. And we won’t ask you to run around so much’ because somehow they got to find [a way] or else get healthy. Because it’s hard to watch Lamar in this spot. It’s s painful.”
The Ravens are tied with the struggling Steelers atop the AFC North, and the Steelers are facing their own issues, with ex-quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suggesting “maybe it’s time” for Mike Tomlin to step down and coach Penn State.