John Harbaugh Explains Playing Lamar Jackson Late in Ravens’ Blowout vs. Browns

Nick Wass/Associated Press

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh shrugged off criticism he received after he decided to keep reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson in the game until the final minutes of the Ravens' 38-6 Week 1 blowout of the Cleveland Browns. 

Jackson completed 20 of 25 attempts for 275 yards and three touchdowns in the victory.

“We're not going to just react to every criticism,” Harbaugh said, per ESPN's Jamison Hensley. “We could take him out of the game at halftime, too. That might keep him safer, too. But we're not going to do that.”

“A lot of things can happen. I've seen teams come back in the fourth quarter,” Harbaugh added. “It's the first game of the season. We're trying to work on things as well.”

In 2019, Jackson sat out the entire fourth quarter in two instances, and in two other games played only half of the final frame, because Baltimore had run up the score on its opponents. But Harbaugh was unrelenting when it came to Sunday's game:

“Ten minutes left? Nah, I don't think so. It's the National Football League. You look around the league and you'll see not too many people are taking their quarterbacks out with 10 minutes left in the game in the National Football League. That's historically true. There's a lot of reasons for that. I don't think I have to get into all the reasons for that. For all the people that want to say that should be done, I'd have to disagree with that.”

Robert Griffin III relieved Jackson with four minutes left to play and was successful on his one attempted pass for nine yards.

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