After weeks and weeks of filling your inboxes with Opening Drives that were based purely on speculation, or at best on what we were hearing out of training camp practices (and yes, seeing in preseason games), we finally have real game tape to break down at long last. With that in mind, I wanted to make today’s newsletter all about what I saw when watching through the All 22 footage of the Ravens dominant win over the Colts.
Below you’ll find a few observations of mine from the tale of the tape, and what I liked about them, or what I think it might mean for team going forward. Without any further ado, let’s get into it:
Lamar Looks Like His Old Self… Or Better
While it’s a bit obvious to point out that Lamar played well in this game, I really can’t emphasize it enough: he played really, really damn well. He’s had better statistical outings, and I’m sure there may be some others to mention in the pantheon of his all time performances, but what really stood out to me was just how in command he looks entering his ninth NFL season.
This is both in a sense of how comfortable he looked operating the offense, as well as attempting to do things he never would have as a younger, less experienced player. It’s well illustrated by two of his (what I like to call) “shortstop throws” i.e., those of the off-balance, unconventional variety.
The first one I’'ll highlight below is actually well within the design of the play, but is certainly a shortstop throw. This is because of how easy he makes the difficult task of maintaining his footwork, executing two different ball fakes, and completing a jump pass to a moving Derrick Henry with two defenders in his face:
The second throw I’ll highlight is a completion to Rashod Bateman that was ultimately called back via penalty, but deserves some love due to the sheer #ArmArrogance on display:
While it’s enough that he was able to sidestep #95 (who draws the penalty on Ioane), having the pocket presence to step up, and fire a dart across the field to where only a barely open Bateman could grab it is eye popping stuff. There’s certainly plenty to comb through if you want more to illustrate Lamar’s huge day, but my main takeaway from his performance is how he appears to have ascended to a level of mastery that can only come from years and years of high level experience… and this was, of course, his first game in a new offensive system. Exciting times are ahead.
