John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens have seen enough late and unnecessary hits to Lamar Jackson. Whether the Ravens quarterback is a runner or not, Jackson gets hit whether he’s in the pocket or taking off and extending the play with his legs.
Harbaugh just wants the officials to be consistent with the roughing the passer penalties, which hasn’t been the treatment regarding Jackson — who hasn’t received a roughing the passer penalty since 2019, per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley.
“I think all the quarterbacks should be treated the same,” Harbaugh said Monday. “I don’t think any quarterback should be judged any differently in terms of how they’re protected, that’s for sure.”
Jackson took a couple of late hits in Sunday’s win over the Denver Broncos, which the Ravens quarterback tends to get more than others due to his running ability. Jackson has 2,803 rushing yards since the start of the 2019 season (regular season and playoffs), the most for any quarterback in the NFL and the fourth-most for any player in the league.
The Ravens just want to make sure their investment is protected, making sure the late hits are sent in to the league to receive a second look.
“We do that every week,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve sent those in before. We’ve gotten those back that sometimes, they should be called, and sometimes, they shouldn’t. But we’ll be sending those in again. There were a couple of them in there that we’ll ask about.”
Jackson hasn’t been vocal regarding the late hits in games, but he has acknowledged the unnecessary hits on social media.
Jackson has recorded 422 rushing attempts since the start of the 2019 season, so he’s aware that the hits will come when he takes off. Harbaugh has communicated with Jackson about avoiding unnecessary hits, but sometimes there’s nothing his quarterback can do.
“I thought he did a good job of it (this week),” Harbaugh said. “He was getting down. He was running out of bounds. But when you’re in the pocket, there’s nothing you can do to protect yourself — the rules are what protect quarterbacks in the pocket.”
All Harbaugh wants is to make sure his quarterback remains upright throughout the year. One late hit could derail the Ravens’ Super Bowl hopes, which hinge on Jackson playing throughout the year.
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