John Harbaugh does not typically indulge comparison questions. The Ravens coach still hears a lot of them.
On Monday, he didn’t have to wait long. For the first question of his weekly news conference, Harbaugh was asked where quarterback Lamar Jackson’s improvised 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Isaiah Likely in the Ravens’ scintillating 41-38 overtime win Sunday over the Cincinnati Bengals ranked in his personal highlight reel.
Harbaugh dodged the prompt with a wry grin. “On the rankings of extended scramble plays? I don’t know. Like my dad always says, ‘You’ve never had a better win. There’s probably never been a better play today.’ ”
Coaches rarely have the time or patience during the season to compare their sport’s totems. Reporters, on the other hand? That’s a different story, especially when the performances are as compelling as Jackson’s 403-yard masterclass in Cincinnati.
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Here are his 10 best plays — well, technically, 11 best plays — from the comeback win, ranked unscientifically on a scale of zero to 20 by how cool and consequential they were.
10. Incomplete pass to WR Rashod Bateman (2nd quarter)
Cool: 8.5 | Consequential: 1 | Total: 9.5
Spoiler alert: This isn’t the first incomplete pass on this list of plays. Jackson’s scramble on third-and-5 early in the second quarter led to nothing but an apparent throw-away. Well, almost nothing. Jackson juking defensive end Myles Murphy out of his cleats by tracing a question mark on the Paycor Stadium turf is not something you see every Sunday. Murphy left with a nifty souvenir, too: Jackson’s towel.
9. 13-yard scramble (4th quarter)
Cool: 6 | Consequential: 4 | Total: 10
Sure, Jackson could’ve picked up most, if not all, of the yardage he picked up here on first-and-20 with a check-down after he left the pocket. He could’ve had an even bigger gain if he’d noticed Likely come open down the right sideline. Instead, he broke through attempted tackles in a two-second span as he powered forward for 5 or so extra yards.
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Jackson could not be denied at times Sunday. He found wide receiver Zay Flowers for a first down on the next play. Three minutes later, the Ravens cut Cincinnati’s lead to 31-28.
8. 2-yard run (4th quarter)
Cool: 8.5 | Consequential: 2 | Total: 10.5
Wait, did Jackson really casually hurdle over former Ravens teammate Geno Stone on a read-option keeper? Yes.
Does it matter that it didn’t even get the Ravens a first down early in the fourth quarter? No.
7. Incomplete pass to WR Nelson Agholor (2nd quarter)
Cool: 9 | Consequential: 2 | Total: 11
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Jackson’s second scramble on this list featured three times the number of existential threats. First, he shrugged off defensive end Trey Hendrickson (listed weight: 265 pounds). Then he slithered out of the grasp of defensive tackle B.J. Hill (311 pounds). Then he got rid of the ball before defensive end Sam Hubbard (265 pounds) could tag him for a big loss.
The Ravens punted three plays later, and the Bengals needed just 25 seconds to go 79 yards, score and take their first lead of the game into halftime. But Jackson had already become an irritant, drawing groans from Cincinnati fans with every disappearing act.
6. 26-yard pass to WR Zay Flowers (1st quarter)
Cool: 6.5 | Consequential: 5 | Total: 11.5
No scrambling necessary here. Jackson got a clean pocket and a wide-open throwing window on this third-and-5 conversion in the first quarter. What he did with both was remind the Bengals of his exceptional arm talent. On a five-step drop-back, Jackson set his feet and — without needing the hitch most quarterbacks take to gather themselves — ripped a fastball over the middle, hitting an in-breaking Flowers in the numbers from over 20 yards away.
The drive ended with a punt, but the Ravens’ early connection proved hard to stop. Flowers finished with seven catches on 12 targets for 111 yards, all season highs.
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5. 18-yard run (4th quarter)
Cool: 7 | Consequential: 5 | Total: 12
So many neat details here: the no-huddle after the Ravens’ first play of this drive — a 27-yard pass to tight end Mark Andrews — that scrambled the Bengals’ presnap alignment. The inverted-veer concept, a tried-and-true option staple from Greg Roman’s playbook that offensive coordinator Todd Monken has used to great effect, getting Jackson a clear downhill lane. And, maybe most memorably, the love tap that an impatient Jackson gave Ronnie Stanley, speeding the left tackle up as if he’d been boosted by a “Mario Kart” Mushroom.
Two plays later, Jackson broke free again for his hard-earned 13-yard scramble. He finished with 12 carries for 55 yards, more than any player in the game except running back Derrick Henry (92 yards).
4. 16-yard TD pass to WR Rashod Bateman (2nd quarter)
Cool: 5.5 | Consequential: 7 | Total: 12.5
Another third-and-5 conversion, but easily the best of the bunch. Cincinnati’s “Cover 0″ presnap look — four Bengals defenders guarding the sticks against four Ravens receivers — freed Stone for an unblocked run into the backfield. But Jackson bided his time, feeling the pressure and fading away from it just long enough for Bateman to clear the Ravens’ crossing-pattern traffic.
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Three of Jackson’s four potential targets got open for potential touchdowns on the play, but he chose the easiest option. Bateman was more than 5 yards clear of the Bengals’ nearest defender, Hubbard, when he caught Jackson’s pass. He all but strolled into the end zone for the touchdown, giving the Ravens a 14-7 lead midway through the second quarter.
Cincinnati was almost at Jackson’s mercy when it blitzed Sunday. According to TruMedia, Jackson finished 14-for-20 for 183 yards and two touchdowns against five or more pass rushers.
3. 55-yard pass to TE Charlie Kolar (3rd quarter)
Cool: 5.5 | Consequential: 7.5 | Total: 13
Kolar’s third-quarter completion was an unlikely highlight, nearly doubling the length of his previous career-long catch (30 yards) and nearly matching Agholor’s Week 3 catch-and-run (56 yards) for the Ravens’ biggest pass play this season.
In the moment, though, the throw might as well have been a declaration of intent for Jackson. He’d opened the second half by watching the Bengals bully the Ravens’ defense across the field for a six-plus-minute, 12-play, 70-yard touchdown march that extended their lead to 24-14. Jackson needed just four plays on the ensuing drive — only one of them a run — to get the Ravens back into the end zone. It was the first of three straight second-half touchdown drives that Jackson led with his arm.
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His perfectly weighted pass to Kolar also helped give the tight end a postgame platform, where he delivered one of the quotes of the season: “They get so focused on Mark and Isaiah, they forget about the fat white guy running up the seam. I was so open, I didn’t know what to do, and Lamar threw it, and I got yelled at for not scoring again, so we have to fix that.”
2. 17- and 12-yard passes to WR Zay Flowers (4th quarter)
Cool: 7 | Consequential: 7 | Total: 14
These two completions happened within a three-play span midway through the fourth quarter, and they exemplify what made Jackson so difficult to stop Sunday.
Before both drop-backs — second-and-12 and second-and-10, respectively — the Bengals again teased the Ravens with a Cover 0 look. On the first, Jackson motioned Andrews over from his wide alignment into the protection so that he could chip Stone and hang up his own defender before releasing into the flat. On the second, Jackson’s positional changes were less drastic, but his presnap communication was far more apparent. He shared words with his offensive line and gestured toward Likely, who stayed in to block and helped give Jackson the time and space he needed to step into a throw.
Good process led to good results. Both times, Jackson wound up before Flowers even got out of his break, leading him away from his coverage. The first-down catches weren’t routine, but neither was anything that happened before them.
1. 6-yard TD pass to TE Isaiah Likely (4th quarter)
Cool: 10 | Consequential: 9 | Total: 19
What more could you want from a play? Jackson’s fumbled snap nearly killed the second-and-goal opportunity. Two stiff arms to Hubbard’s helmet as Jackson escaped the pocket resuscitated it. A go-and-get-it throw to Likely, clamoring for a look as he lingered near the back of the red zone, elevated Jackson’s touchdown into franchise lore.
“I knew what was going on. We just had to put points on the board,” said Jackson (348 passing yards), whose fourth passing score drew the Ravens to within 38-35 with 5:24 remaining in regulation. “That’s what was going through my mind, but without a costly turnover. We were driving the ball down the field, trying to make something happen, because those guys, I think, [had] one play [by wide Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase] that went 80 yards, so it’s like we have to respond back fast, because time is running out. And time was on our side today, because we were able to make something happen.”
“A lot of times, you have to find ways to win,“ Harbaugh said Monday. “You have to overcome. Sometimes you have to overcome your own things, and certainly the opponent throws so many things at you that are challenging. I just thought it was an incredible, fabulous play that will go down in history. We’ll be watching that play for years to come on NFL Films.”
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