The 3 victims of Lamar Jackson’s spin move I feel most sorry for

Kevin Harlan perfectly captured the experience of watching Lamar Jackson in three words. He watched the quarterback’s incredible run against the Bengals and then exclaimed, “He is Houdini!”

Jackson appears to be a professional escape artist in addition to his duties as quarterback. Against the Bengals, he was seemingly trapped by three defenders and then suddenly, after a spin move, he wasn’t. Instead he was headed for a touchdown as defenders fell over themselves.

I’m a man of compassion, and there are three defenders on that play who I really feel sorry for.

The first is Carlos Dunlap. Dunlap had perfect position as Jackson started running. He read the fake handoff well, fixing his eyes on Jackson the whole time. Yet Jackson just breezed right by him as if Dunlap didn’t exist. It’s one thing to be made a victim by Jackson through jukes and spins; it’s more heartbreaking to be totally ignored. Jackson is so much faster than Dunlap could wish to be that he doesn’t even consider the defender, who could only reach out his hand, hoping to grasp a piece of the man, a plea to be noticed in some way.

The second defender I feel sorry for is Jessie Bates, the safety who Jackson meets after going past Dunlap. Look at him. He comes down into Jackson’s path, sets his feet, and seems confident he’s going to make the tackle. He must have envisioned it as soon as the play started, That he would be the one to take down the elusive quarterback. This would be his moment of glory.

At least Jackson notices him enough to make a move, but all it takes is a hard feint to the left and Bates is out of the picture. Jackson dismisses him casually, as if Bates had poured out his feelings in several long text messages only for the quarterback to respond with, “wow, that’s crazy.” Bates’ pursuit afterwards is so pathetic and desperate, that his consciousness should have told him Jackson is just not interested in his companionship.

Then there’s Nick Vigil. The true victim of the spin move. Shawn Williams was also a passenger on the merry-go-round, but Vigil felt the full force of it. Jackson turned Vigil, a grown man, into a bowling ball. He doesn’t just make Vigil fall, he spins so hard that Vigil loses his balance and takes out his own teammates in the process. The spin move had the same effect as a Mario Kart banana peel. What Jackson did to Vigil was so degrading that his teammates hopped over him as if he was simply debris.

I could have said Jackson’s run was embarrassing to the Bengals as a whole and that it exemplified everything wrong with the franchise this season — their incompetence and general lack of ability. But players bumbling over themselves trying to tackle Jackson is nothing new. That inability to tackle him makes the Bengals just like every other team he has faced in his short career.

And that’s the true power of the Ravens quarterback and his spin move. The Bengals may have been his victim this week, but he’s so electrifying he can make every team look like the Bengals at any moment.