Does anyone think the Lamar Jackson situation this year was strange?

[Doc]

The only thing I think was "strange" was the Ravens not giving Lamar a huge deal at least after Josh got his, despite winning MVP and making the Pro Bowl in 2019.  That tells me they're not sold on him as a franchise QB.  I can't imagine that missing so much time has changed their minds.

[zow2]

I think LJ was legitimately hurt and lost his ability to move around and run effectively.  I don't think he is being coddled by the media, but it is a concern for the Ravens and their fans.  If a QB can't stay healthy (Baker this year too)...it's a knock on him.  I'm sorry, but it is.  

[billsfan1959]

2 minutes ago, FireChans said:

I said if I was a Ravens fan or player. I’m neither of those things. I swear, I’m not Marlon Humphrey. 
 

I do wonder the extent of his injury, because there’s basically no details. That’s why it’s strange. 

Haha!

 

I don't know if there is anything more to the extent of his injury than a bone bruise, particularly given his style of play. I have had a bone bruise - and I know I am not an elite NFL athlete, but I have to tell you it took a long time to heal and was incredibly painful. I think more highly of Jackson than a lot of posters here and I think he is highly competetive and gives everything he has when he is on the field. I believe he would have played if he was able. 

[CoffeeDrip]

I think Baker should have taken a page or two out of Lamar's playbook and sat his rear down at some point in the season to give his body time to heal. By the last game, when he finally sat out, he basically was a walking injury to his entire left side.

 

Lamar's season - the Ravens season as a whole - was very strange. We'll see what impacts it has, if any, at some point.

[Southern_Bills]

Lamar is his own agent iirc, which is always problematic. Being a contract year you would think on the field is where you need to be.

 

No telling how bad the injury really was, you can't tell a player he feels fine.

[PRBills]

Imo the ravens, or the NFL in general, could not risk exposing Lamar Jackson for what he truly is… A gifted athlete. He is not a quarterback. With the bone bruise you take away his ability to run, forcing him into being a quarterback, standing in the pocket, reading the defense and making NFL level throws. You take all of that away and hes a mediocre QB in this league 

[Buffalo03]

8 hours ago, FireChans said:

So we all know the Ravens were extremely unlucky IRT injuries this year. Still, despite being extremely banged up, this team was at one point one seed 2/3rds of the way through the season.

 

they lost their final 6 to miss the postseason, 4 of those with LJ out with injury. Lamar’s injury? A bone bruise.

 

So Lamar sits for their last 4, basically dooming a team that was 8-5, because he couldn’t play on a bone bruise? I get it, it was probably extremely painful, they probably weren’t going to go deep into the postseason but still.

 

If it were Baker Mayfield who was in a similar situation, I think the media crushes him. Even if it was Aaron Rodgers, I think it’s a major topic. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone in the media even ask the question, was Lamar truly that hurt that they had to roll with “one read” Huntley and ruin their whole season?

 

If I was a Ravens fan, I’d be kinda pissed. If I was a Ravens player, I’d be probably pretty annoyed. A lot of guys are banged up near the end of the year. Lamar with four weeks off couldn’t give it a go against the Steelers in a must win game? Even at 70%, wouldn’t he give them their best chance to win? 

2 of those losses were because Harbaugh opted to go for 2 instead of OT twice. Had he had just played for OT, they may have won one or both, instead he basically gave the Ravens 2 additional losses that ended their season

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

23 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

This is pretty much where I am.  If the Ravens were down Lamar and otherwise full-strength, if Lamar could go, he'd have played.  But the Ravens were hit by the injury bug in historical fashion.  Risking long-term injury for an unlikely playoff run would have been a bad decision.

 

Plus, I think a 100% Huntley is better than a 60% Jackson, anyway.

 

 I think Huntley is the better QB. 

 

[corta765]

You really have zero clue what your talking about. Try ripping off your big toe nail and tell me what you mobility is. People criticize stuff like this or turf toe etc.. and have zero clue how much even something like losing a toe nail impacts your ability to move. These guys are literally the peak of athletics and injuries that limit them even 10% have a massive impact on what they can or can't do. I have no doubt Lamar tried to make a go and it just wouldn't happen. I blocked a shot in hockey that went right to the bone on my leg and I thought my leg broke, I can't imagine what his situation was.

 

The Ravens had a cursed type season of injuries and even with that had multiple chances to get in. Truthfully their great failing was losing so many once score games. I will say this with Lamar eventually wear and tear is going to happen which will slow down some of his dynamic ability. They have to let him pass more and utilize that piece of his skillset if he is going to be an elite player 10 years from now. He is going to get a big money deal though and the Ravens and their fans will feel good about what they had regardless of this year.

[JESSEFEFFER]

Guys play hurt all the time, often with whatever relief modern medicine can offer.  Guys try to play injured too, and then play like crap and it hurts their team and their reputation.  It's almost no win for them.  Try and fail and you suck, don't try and the team loses then you were weak, not tough enough, slacking, selfish or whatever.

[NoSaint]

1 hour ago, FireChans said:

This is a dome thread

Umm you aren’t an nfl player.

 

appreciate the insight tho. I don’t think Lamar has had surgery yet.

If dismissing anyone who isn’t an nfl player with the same injury - what discussion were you hoping to start here? 

[ndirish1978]

What's the point of this thread? OP, do the moon-landing next!

[Coach Tuesday]

I don't think the OP is questioning Lamar (although the wording of the post is a bit confusing in that regard).  I think he's subtly questioning the media's "agenda" which is, among other things, extremely tiresome at this point.  

[Mark80]

My favorite athlete of all time, Rickey Henderson, once put it this way.  When you have a Ferrari you don't go out driving it, pushing it when it needs some sort of maintenance/repair.  You put it in the garage until its 100% ready to go.  (Speaking of himself and a DL stint with a tweaked hamstring).  Much like Rickey, Lamar is dependent on that freakish athletic ability, you don't put him out there when he's not 100% and can cause further damage.  He is an ineffective pocket restricted passer.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

I sort of worry that Lamar has some kind of autoimmune disorder. I have never heard of any player who gets sick as much as him. I think he has had COVID like 5 times! 
 

My buddy who is a Ravens fan is always saying he needs to start taking some vitamins. 

[BuffaloBillyG]

9 hours ago, FireChans said:

So we all know the Ravens were extremely unlucky IRT injuries this year. Still, despite being extremely banged up, this team was at one point one seed 2/3rds of the way through the season.

 

they lost their final 6 to miss the postseason, 4 of those with LJ out with injury. Lamar’s injury? A bone bruise.

 

So Lamar sits for their last 4, basically dooming a team that was 8-5, because he couldn’t play on a bone bruise? I get it, it was probably extremely painful, they probably weren’t going to go deep into the postseason but still.

 

If it were Baker Mayfield who was in a similar situation, I think the media crushes him. Even if it was Aaron Rodgers, I think it’s a major topic. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone in the media even ask the question, was Lamar truly that hurt that they had to roll with “one read” Huntley and ruin their whole season?

 

If I was a Ravens fan, I’d be kinda pissed. If I was a Ravens player, I’d be probably pretty annoyed. A lot of guys are banged up near the end of the year. Lamar with four weeks off couldn’t give it a go against the Steelers in a must win game? Even at 70%, wouldn’t he give them their best chance to win? 

You forgot to mention that the Ravens forbid the media (allegedly) from videoing Lamar throwing to his receivers this post off season as well.

 

https://www.awesemo.com/sideaction/baltimore-ravens-reportedly-ban-media-from-filming-lamar-jackson-throwing-ball/

[Augie]

9 hours ago, Comebackkid said:

 A bone bruise cannot be trivialized. One cannot just take pain medicine and ignore the symptoms. Despite Roethlisberger’s ironman reputation, he can’t just play through it. Edema or swelling in the bone can lead to complications and articular cartilage loss if not careful. What is a bone bruise? It is not a simple contusion that is treated with ice and managed symptomatically. A deep bone bruise is essentially a microscopic fracture, much like a ligament sprain is a microscopic tear. I am not suggesting it is a true fracture that needs surgery or casting, but there is compromise to the integrity of the bone in order to get the swelling/fluid inside the bone. Think of the bones of the knee being covered by articular cartilage like the dirt of the football field has grass on top. When an elephant stomps on the grass, the dirt underneath can be damaged/compressed. In order to allow the grass (articular cartilage) the best chance to rejuvenate and heal, you can’t keep playing football on it. The “keep off the grass” sign allows a chance to heal. Last year, Broncos LB Danny Trevathan was placed on short-term IR for a bone bruise. As a result of recurrent injury, he needed offseason surgery. I am not suggesting this will happen to Roethlisberger, but the top Steelers medical staff will have this in mind as they allow their QB to return to play

 

 

per dr david chao

 

We had a friend who was a pediatric neuro-radiologist who helped us when our son was injured in high school sports. He explained that “on a scale of 1-10, if a bad bone bruise is a 5,  a break is 5.5. They are almost the same thing.”  It’s not just a little leg boo-boo. 

 

This just went to show how dependent they are on an individual player. I hope we don’t find out how dependent we are upon our QB. 

 

 

.

Edited January 19, 2022 by Augie

[Mat68]

Team was in disarray with all those injuries to running backs.  They are a running team.  I think the negotiations were and are weird because he doesn't have an agent.  Lamar is electric but his style is not one of longevity.  I dont know where you find better.  I think you resign him.  Probably have to.  

[FireChans]

7 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

I don't think the OP is questioning Lamar (although the wording of the post is a bit confusing in that regard).  I think he's subtly questioning the media's "agenda" which is, among other things, extremely tiresome at this point.  

I somehow manage to be tiresome unintentionally and intentionally. I am the Lamar Jackson of tiresome.

[SoTier]

8 hours ago, FireChans said:

So we all know the Ravens were extremely unlucky IRT injuries this year. Still, despite being extremely banged up, this team was at one point one seed 2/3rds of the way through the season.

 

they lost their final 6 to miss the postseason, 4 of those with LJ out with injury. Lamar’s injury? A bone bruise.

 

So Lamar sits for their last 4, basically dooming a team that was 8-5, because he couldn’t play on a bone bruise? I get it, it was probably extremely painful, they probably weren’t going to go deep into the postseason but still.

 

If it were Baker Mayfield who was in a similar situation, I think the media crushes him. Even if it was Aaron Rodgers, I think it’s a major topic. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone in the media even ask the question, was Lamar truly that hurt that they had to roll with “one read” Huntley and ruin their whole season?

 

If I was a Ravens fan, I’d be kinda pissed. If I was a Ravens player, I’d be probably pretty annoyed. A lot of guys are banged up near the end of the year. Lamar with four weeks off couldn’t give it a go against the Steelers in a must win game? Even at 70%, wouldn’t he give them their best chance to win? 

 

That Jackson didn't dress for those games means that the coaching staff made the decision for him.  

 

Lamar Jackson is a difference maker and leader on his team almost on a par with Mahomes and Allen.  He's not as good a passer as those two young studs, but he's more than good enough.  He makes a difference to his team in ways that Baker Mayfield doesn't.  Baker's been a big disappointment, and his well publicized injuries are more of an excuse by his fans.   The plain fact is that Lamar has improved significantly as a passer and as a QB since coming into the league while Baker is still making the same mental mistakes in his fourth year that he was making two years ago.   I say that as somebody who was a big Baker Mayfield fan in the 2018 draft.  

 

[FireChans]

18 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

If dismissing anyone who isn’t an nfl player with the same injury - what discussion were you hoping to start here? 

How many people did anything with a torn labrum and broken shoulder this year? Let alone played football?

 

Baker Mayfield did. In the words of Sammy Watkins, let’s not pretend all of y’all’s little jobs are the same.

[BuffaloRebound]

8 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

I don't think the OP is questioning Lamar (although the wording of the post is a bit confusing in that regard).  I think he's subtly questioning the media's "agenda" which is, among other things, extremely tiresome at this point.  

Right.  Black QB’s have it so good.  That’s why bums like Rosen and Darnold got drafted ahead of him.  And why the guy’s won an MVP and is still playing on his rookie deal.  

[FireChans]

24 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Right.  Black QB’s have it so good.  That’s why bums like Rosen and Darnold got drafted ahead of him.  And why the guy’s won an MVP and is still playing on his rookie deal.  

Are we acting like Lamar Jackson is not a media darling?

 

there are two sides to every contract negotiation. For all you know, Lamar wants to be paid more than Mahomes. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by FireChans

[ToGoGo]

27 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Right.  Black QB’s have it so good.  That’s why bums like Rosen and Darnold got drafted ahead of him.  And why the guy’s won an MVP and is still playing on his rookie deal.  

 

Not so black and white as you make it. 

[Coach Tuesday]

4 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Are we acting like Lamar Jackson is not a media darling?

 

there are two sides to every contract negotiation. For all you know, Lamar wants to be paid more than Mahomes. 

Why are you doing this.

[Lagoon Blues]

I agree that it seemed odd with several things together all at once...but, personal experience, I slipped fly fishing in Montana and sustained a bone bruise to my lower leg in August.  Still painful to run today.  Slowest healing damn thing I have ever experienced.

[SCBills]

I think it’s more the entirety of the year.  Covid, random other illness, gets hurt and the team never really sets a timeline of when he may/may not play.  
 

Not faulting Lamar, but it was an odd year for him. 

[Mr. Pink]

I've become much stupider by reading this thread. I've learned to a deep bone bruise is "tis nothing but a flesh wound" and that people are agitated that black QBs have it so easy in this league! Anything I am missing?

[GoBills808]

As a Bills fan I can’t help but root for Lamar…he gets a lot of the same criticism that Allen does while being their entire offense too.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

10 hours ago, FireChans said:

So we all know the Ravens were extremely unlucky IRT injuries this year. Still, despite being extremely banged up, this team was at one point one seed 2/3rds of the way through the season.

 

they lost their final 6 to miss the postseason, 4 of those with LJ out with injury. Lamar’s injury? A bone bruise.

 

So Lamar sits for their last 4, basically dooming a team that was 8-5, because he couldn’t play on a bone bruise? I get it, it was probably extremely painful, they probably weren’t going to go deep into the postseason but still.

 

If it were Baker Mayfield who was in a similar situation, I think the media crushes him. Even if it was Aaron Rodgers, I think it’s a major topic. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone in the media even ask the question, was Lamar truly that hurt that they had to roll with “one read” Huntley and ruin their whole season?

 

If I was a Ravens fan, I’d be kinda pissed. If I was a Ravens player, I’d be probably pretty annoyed. A lot of guys are banged up near the end of the year. Lamar with four weeks off couldn’t give it a go against the Steelers in a must win game? Even at 70%, wouldn’t he give them their best chance to win? 

 

IIRC, Lamar has played through some injuries.  I see no reason to question his toughness.  The guy is a gamer.  Let the training staff and coaches decide (which they did).  Players have also had their careers shortened or become permanently less effective by playing through some injuries - see Luck, Andrew.  A team is foolish to put a valued player in that position.  They're also foolish to put a key player on IR unnecessarily for an injury with an unpredictable and variable timeline.

 

It can go the other way, too.  Arguably, the Browns might have been in the playoffs if they sat Mayfield and played Case Keenum for a few more games.  Keenum had a career year and a trip to the Conference Championship in Minnesota playing for Stefanski / Shurmur in a run-centric offense. 

 

And at a smaller impact level, some of us have wondered if the Bills would be playing at home this weekend if they had played McKenzie for an obviously injured and hindered Beasley against (say) the Jaguars.  Beasley was 8 for 11 in that game, but with a pitiful 3 YPT and 4.13 Y/R, and was notably going down immediately before he was hit.  A few more first downs could potentially have swung that game.

 

9 hours ago, FireChans said:

I don’t think Lamar is malingering. If he can’t go, he can’t go. I wouldn’t hold it against him personally. He’s gotta look out for himself, look what happened to Baker. He played hurt and played himself out of a long term deal.

 

I think there may be more to the story because on its face it seems kinda odd and it seemed to me to not really be discussed. 

 

Perhaps you would like to visit a Ravens board, where it is probably being discussed with great interest.

 

This is a Bills board, and while fans of other teams are welcome and discussion of other teams is appropriate, it's a bit sketchy to start threads to speculate about injuries/illnesses of players on other teams who are out of the playoffs.

[dpberr]

I think he has a chronic illness that needs management.  Health with chronic illness is peaks and valleys. 

 

In addition to COVID twice, he's had two illnesses over two seasons that were not disclosed that have kept him off the field.  

[FireChans]

6 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

IIRC, Lamar has played through some injuries.  I see no reason to question his toughness.  The guy is a gamer.  Let the training staff and coaches decide

 

Players have also had their careers shortened or become permanently less effective by playing through some injuries - see Luck, Andrew.  A team is foolish to put a valued player in that position.

 

It can go the other way, too.  Arguably, the Browns might have been in the playoffs if they sat Mayfield and played Case Keenum for a few more games.  Keenum had a career year and a trip to the Conference Championship in Minnesota playing for Stefanski / Shurmur in a run-centric offense. 

 

And at a smaller impact level, some of us have wondered if the Bills would be playing at home this weekend if they had played McKenzie for an obviously injured and hindered Beasley against (say) the Jaguars.  Beasley was 8 for 11 in that game, but with a pitiful 3 YPT and 4.13 Y/R, and was notably going down immediately before he was hit.  A few more first downs could potentially have swung that game.

 

Perhaps you would like to visit a Ravens board, where it is probably being discussed with great interest.

 

This is a Bills board, and while fans of other teams are welcome and discussion of other teams is appropriate, it's a bit sketchy to start threads to speculate about injuries/illnesses of players on other teams who are out of the playoffs.

Dude. Lamar Jackson will probably the second biggest AFC rival to Josh Allen for the next 15 years. I think one topic on him is ok.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Dude. Lamar Jackson will probably the second biggest AFC rival to Josh Allen for the next 15 years. I think one topic on him is ok.

 

If I didn't agree, I'd close it, but when you go into encouraging rampant speculation and saying it's "odd" that it's "not really discussed" as you did here:

 

Quote

I think there may be more to the story because on its face it seems kinda odd and it seemed to me to not really be discussed

 

.......I think it's fair to point out that unsourced speculation about another team's players injuries and plaints that "it seemed to not really be discussed" may be a bridge too far during the playoffs, so don't take it too far.

 

We do routinely point out that topics which are appropriate during a slack week in the off-season are not necessarily so during training camp/regular season/playoffs.

[FireChans]

49 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Why are you doing this.

Doing what? Discussing a rival QB?

 

I don’t understand what the big deal is. There was rampant speculation that he’s battling IBD or some other problems months ago. I don’t know if any of that holds water. But it’s just kinda weird.

[Orlando Tim]

I definitely think the situation is strange but his entire situation is strange. He is Tebow if Tebow was better, his running sets up his passing. If Lamar can't run well he is not very effective, even when he is throwing for 300 yards the threat of run is important. So a bone bruise for him is different than others.

[FilthyBeast]

10 hours ago, FireChans said:

So we all know the Ravens were extremely unlucky IRT injuries this year. Still, despite being extremely banged up, this team was at one point one seed 2/3rds of the way through the season.

 

they lost their final 6 to miss the postseason, 4 of those with LJ out with injury. Lamar’s injury? A bone bruise.

 

So Lamar sits for their last 4, basically dooming a team that was 8-5, because he couldn’t play on a bone bruise? I get it, it was probably extremely painful, they probably weren’t going to go deep into the postseason but still.

 

If it were Baker Mayfield who was in a similar situation, I think the media crushes him. Even if it was Aaron Rodgers, I think it’s a major topic. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone in the media even ask the question, was Lamar truly that hurt that they had to roll with “one read” Huntley and ruin their whole season?

 

If I was a Ravens fan, I’d be kinda pissed. If I was a Ravens player, I’d be probably pretty annoyed. A lot of guys are banged up near the end of the year. Lamar with four weeks off couldn’t give it a go against the Steelers in a must win game? Even at 70%, wouldn’t he give them their best chance to win? 

 

I'm sure there were a lot of factors at play but realistically the entire Ravens organization probably realized once Jackson got hurt and was added to a very long list of key players lost over the course of the season they weren't going to risk the future and bigger picture against the short term where it was highly unlikely they would contend for a championship even if they made the playoffs as a WC team.

 

So if that's the reality it was certainly the right move to not try and force Jackson back into the lineup. Also Jackson himself had to make somewhat of a business decision as well knowing he's in line for a big pay day even from the Ravens or someone else.

 

 

[ExiledInIllinois]

So we all know that the Ravens were extremely lucky with a few "walk-off" wins.

 

...Yeah,  they should be worse than their win-loss record indicates. 

One of those games was week #3...

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by ExiledInIllinois

[TheFunPolice]

48 minutes ago, dpberr said:

I think he has a chronic illness that needs management.  Health with chronic illness is peaks and valleys. 

 

In addition to COVID twice, he's had two illnesses over two seasons that were not disclosed that have kept him off the field.  

 

This is the more concerning thing to me. He missed practice a lot with "an illness" and I think even a game. They made sure to say it wasn't Covid related. 

 

On a human level I hope the guy is OK, because he is a really good person. As a football fan, I hope he is OK because he is incredibly fun to watch and a unique talent in this game. 

[NoSaint]

2 hours ago, FireChans said:

How many people did anything with a torn labrum and broken shoulder this year? Let alone played football?

 

Baker Mayfield did. In the words of Sammy Watkins, let’s not pretend all of y’all’s little jobs are the same.

so what your saying is you are seeking attention more than anyone’s input?

[Punching Bag]

Very strange he was voted to Pro Bowl and he did not even play last 6 games.

Rooney Rule sub clause?