‘Special’ Jackson leads Ravens in NFL rout of Bengals

Washington (AFP) – Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson delivered another dazzling performance Sunday, throwing for three touchdowns and running for a spectacular score in the Ravens’ 49-13 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

It was another perfect passing day for the Ravens’ dual-threat QB — but it was his 47-yard run in the third quarter, with a 360-degree spin that left defenders tumbling to the turf, that will be remembered.

“I don’t see how anybody could sit there and say they anticipated that run there,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “They’ll be watching that run for decades and decades.

“That’s rare,” Harbaugh said after watching Jackson take a snap, fake a handoff and race up the middle.

He dodged one defender then with two more closing in spun 360 degrees and out of danger — and kept on running.

“That’s special,” Harbaugh said.

Ravens running back Mark Ingram called it “the craziest thing I’ve witnessed on the field” after he was left basically to escort Jackson on the run.

With the victory over the still winless Bengals the Ravens maintained the momentum from their impressive victory over the previously unbeaten Patriots.

And Jackson was the star throughout. He completed a 49-yard pass on his first play and never looked back.

The game in Cincinnati put Jackson less than 100 miles from Louisville, Kentucky, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 2016 as the nation’s top collegiate football player.

“I was glad to be back (near Louisville),” he said. “Put on a show.”

He wasn’t the only former Heisman winner in action for the Ravens, however.

In the second quarter the Ravens ran an option play in which Jackson faked a handoff to Ingram — the 2009 Heisman winner, then pitched the ball to 2011 Heisman winner Robert Griffin III for a 12-yard gain.

“That’s the Heisman Package,” Ingram said. “That’s what we call it.”