Lamar Jackson — Week 2: Sixty-Four Yards After Halftime
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Jackson completed 21 of 31 throws for 235 yards, one touchdown and one interception, took three sacks for 31 yards, and scrambled four times for 34. He was 13 of 16 for 171 yards before halftime and 8 of 15 for 64 after it, and his last throw was intercepted at the New Orleans seven with 20 seconds left, in a 24–17 loss to the Saints.
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24 to 17, Saints, 20 seconds left, second and 10 at the New Orleans 37. Lamar Jackson threw deep left for Rashod Bateman, 30 yards in the air, and Julian Blackmon intercepted it at the seven. −1.8 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and −5.7 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. It ended a second half that looked nothing like the first.
The line: 21 of 31 throws, 235 yards, one touchdown, one interception, three sacks for 31 yards, and +3.3 expected points on 34 pass plays. One of the 31 throws was a spike. Before halftime he was 13 of 16 for a hundred 71 yards, and the 17 pass plays were worth +9.1. After it he was eight of 15 for 64 yards, and the 17 pass plays were worth −5.8. The first half had the 47-yarder to Devontez Walker, 46 yards in the air from the Baltimore 11, and the touchdown: second and six at the New Orleans 22 with 28 seconds left in the half, deep middle to Bateman, +3.6 expected points, the largest figure for any play in the game. The second half had two of the three sacks. The costly one was third and 10 at the New Orleans 19 with four 11 left in the third, a 12-yard loss split between Chase Young and Nathan Shepherd, −2.4 expected points, Baltimore's worst play of the day; it turned a field goal try from the 19 into a 49-yarder, which Tyler Loop made for 17 to nine. An 11-yard sack in the second quarter had preceded a 49-yarder that was blocked. And on third and one at the Baltimore 37 with eight 21 left, tied at 17, he threw deep middle for Chris Moore, 38 yards in the air, incomplete. Baltimore punted and did not see the ball again until it trailed. Five throws traveled 20 or more yards in the air; the first two were complete for 69 yards and the last three were not, the interception among them.
Four rushes, 34 yards, three first downs, and the play-by-play marks all four as scrambles. There was no designed quarterback run. A 12-yard scramble in the third quarter went in the book as four after a holding call on Moore. Nine throws went to Bateman, seven to Mark Andrews, three each to Derrick Henry and Moore. Zay Flowers was inactive with a hamstring injury, per NBC Sports.
Back in June the preview's read on Jackson was that the bounce-back price was the right bet, with one number to watch: the rushing, which fell last season to the lowest of his career, because rushing is what makes a quarterback's floor repeat. Week 1 was 324 yards passing and seven carries for 40 yards and a touchdown. Sunday was four scrambles and nothing called for him. Two games, 11 rushes, 74 yards. That is not the old share of his game, and it is also two games, one of them without his first receiver. Baltimore is the road team against the Cowboys on Sunday the 20-seventh, at Maracana Stadium.
_Data via nflverse._
When Lamar Jackson's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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