Sean McDermott on the Challenge of Coaching Against Ravens QB Lamar Jackson

Ask Sean McDermott what makes Lamar Jackson so hard to stop, and he keeps coming back to the same word. Unique.

"So unique, Rich. He really is. He's so unique," McDermott said on The Rich Eisen Show, when Rich asked what his message to his defense used to be the week Buffalo had to face Baltimore. "Makes it really hard to defend."

Months, Not Days

McDermott's point was about time. A normal NFL week isn't enough to solve Jackson, he said. "It's almost like you have to schedule this out as a staff, as a defensive staff in this case, months in advance," McDermott explained, "because if you only have seven days to get yourself ready, his uniqueness creates such a challenge."

"It's hard to come up with a game plan to defend him just in one seven-day stretch," he added.

That's why he thinks this weekend sets up well for the Bills. Buffalo is coming off a bye, which means two weeks to prepare for Jackson and everything he brings. McDermott also ran through the recent history: the Bills are 3-0 in the last three meetings, they played Baltimore at home and they're home again this week, and they're 2-0 against Jackson in the playoffs.

Baltimore, meanwhile, is coming off what McDermott called "a tough loss at the hands of Cincinnati," and he said he's anxious to see how the Ravens respond.

The Passer He Became

Rich, describing himself as "a mere mortal sitting and watching," asked whether there is a flaw in Jackson's game that a coordinator can see and try to force.

McDermott didn't name a flaw. He described an evolution. Early in Jackson's NFL run, he said, the conversation was about "mobile quarterback production." Over the last two to three years, and in particular with Monken as offensive coordinator, Jackson "evolved as a passer, in particular on the routes that are right in front of him."

"He's now put that tool in his toolbox, and he makes it difficult," McDermott said. "You not only have to prepare for him as a runner, but now you've got to prepare for him as a passer."

The Problem With Getting Him Down

The obvious answer, McDermott acknowledged, is to send more people. "It's easy to say, 'Hey, we'll add extra rushers, fill the lanes,'" he said. "And we did that in Buffalo at times."

But there is a catch that no blitz chart solves. "The other added element to that is when you're on the scene, can you get him down?" McDermott said. "He's so elusive and so fast that once he breaks contain, or once he breaks into the open, he can take it 80 yards and hurt you in a heartbeat."

That was his final verdict on the challenge. Not a weakness to exploit, but a quarterback who forces a defense to defend two complete skill sets at once, and then punishes the one mistake that lets him escape.

For a Bills team with two weeks to prepare and a winning recent record against him, the plan is the same one McDermott described from experience. Start early, prepare for both the runner and the passer, and when you finally get there, finish the tackle.