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Lamar Jackson changes game plans and respiratory patterns. The Ravens star can become, on almost any play, a hold-your-breath type of quarterback. There he is, dropping back on third-and-10, and … gasp. There he goes, running circles around defensive linemen near the goal line, and … phew.

A two-time NFL Most Valuable Player, Jackson is one of football’s most dangerous players because he rarely lets danger find him. He can outrun defenders, outsmart coordinators and outlast his other problems.

Well, most of them. Jackson is not immune to poor offensive line play. And, as the Ravens prepare for their “Monday Night Football” showdown against the Detroit Lions, Jackson’s protection has come under renewed scrutiny. Now his heart-stopping drop-backs can inspire as much fear around M&T Bank Stadium as they do awe.

Jackson was not the NFL’s most pressured quarterback or its most beat-up quarterback through the regular season’s first two weeks. But he was perhaps among the league’s most at risk. On Pro Football Focus, the Ravens’ pass-blocking grade ranked 27th. On Sports Info Solutions, their blown-block rate on pass plays ranked last. The five sacks Jackson absorbed in Week 1 and Week 2 would’ve tied for the most he took in any two-game stretch last season.

“Obviously, the goal is to keep him as clean as possible and not have him scramble around like that,” center Tyler Linderbaum said Friday. “But, at the end of the day, it’s football. And he’s the best in the league at that, scrambling and making plays like that. So, obviously, stuff breaks down like that, 8 [Jackson] is going to have our back. But at the end of the day, yeah, we want to have his back all the time.”

Quarterbacks are always in peril, no matter who’s blocking for them. The NFL’s QB-friendly rulebook can help only so much. Entering Week 3, injuries had sidelined five starters of varying mobility:

• The San Francisco 49ers’ Brock Purdy hurt his toe in Week 1 after leaving the pocket and getting tackled as he fell toward the sideline.
• The Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels suffered a sprained knee on a scramble in Week 2.
• The New York Jets’ Justin Fields was concussed after his head bounced off the turf as he attempted a pass outside the pocket in Week 2.
• The Minnesota Vikings’ J.J. McCarthy sprained his ankle on a scramble toward the sideline in Week 2.
• The Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow suffered turf toe while taking a sack in Week 2.

“Crazy,” Ravens outside linebacker Odafe Oweh said Wednesday of the spate of injuries. He added: “It sucks, but we’re trying to impact the QB as much as we can.”

“We’re obviously not trying to hurt anyone,” outside linebacker Tavius Robinson said. “But, yes, it’s a violent sport, and I think everyone who signs up knows that. So I think it’s just how the game goes sometimes.”

Jackson is well acquainted with the risks. He missed the final five games of the 2021 season after a seemingly innocuous hit outside the pocket led to an ankle injury. He missed the final six games of the 2022 season, including a playoff loss, after suffering a PCL injury in his knee on another seemingly innocuous sack.

But, in the two-plus seasons since, Jackson has largely avoided the Ravens’ injury report. The only game he’s missed in that span: the 2023 regular-season finale, a game that had no bearing on the top-seeded Ravens’ playoff positioning. Jackson got the day off along with several other starters.

“You have to just play the game,” coach John Harbaugh said Saturday. “I really do believe Lamar has a great feel for that [avoiding dangerous situations], just a good feel for that. So I trust him, but you have to go play the game. You have to go play the game to win the game, and Lamar does a great job of that.”

“Just don’t get hit,” Jackson said in 2023. “That’s all I know.”

Easier said than done. Jackson was sacked twice in a Week 1 loss to the Buffalo Bills, but the worst hit he took might’ve come after he delivered a completed pass to wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins late in the fourth quarter. Defensive lineman Ed Oliver knocked Jackson off his feet on the play, which didn’t draw a flag. (“Hopefully, we start getting those calls sometime soon, fast,” Jackson said a few days later.)

He was under even more heat in Week 2. The Cleveland Browns pressured Jackson on 45.5% of his drop-backs, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, his highest rate in a game since the 2023 season. Jackson was sacked three times and hit five times overall in the blowout win.

“Some of that is part of playing against a really good front,” Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken said Friday. “You’re going to have some issues. Some guys are going to get beat against good players. Just like when they play us in man [coverage], at times, they’re going to get beat by Zay Flowers. That’s just the way it is. You have really good players. They have really good players. You do everything you can, or try to, to help yourself in protection with slides and chips and those kinds of things. And then eventually, at times, they’re going to get the best of you and you’re going to get the best of them.”

The Ravens’ hope is that the worst is behind them. Their 2024 line started slowly, too, before finding a groove. Coaches and teammates have expressed confidence in guards Andrew Vorhees and Daniel Faalele despite shaky starts. And the Lions’ Aidan Hutchinson-led pass rush is, on paper, far less a threat than the Browns’ Myles Garrett-led unit.

The Ravens know what’s at stake on every snap — not just yardage but the safety of their offensive centerpiece. One sack, one awkward collision, one misstep can send a promising season careening off course.

“As an offensive tackle, you’re going against the best edge rushers in the National Football League, and those guys are getting paid big money to get to the quarterbacks,” right tackle Roger Rosengarten said Wednesday. “So it’s our job to protect them, and thankfully, [with] Lamar, we have such a good player where he can make multiple guys miss at one time.”

The Ravens would rather not live that way. Exciting? Sure. But dangerous, too.

“It’s our job,” Rosengarten said, “to protect those guys.”