Getty Dolphins DC Fangio believes Michael Vick is the only player that's been like Lamar jackson in the last 50 years.
In Week 17 of the NFL season, the Miami Dolphins will face one of their toughest challenges of the year. They will be tasked with slowing down Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens.
It’s a challenge teams around the league have struggled with throughout this season as the Ravens have worked their way to a 12-3 record and Jackson is currently the favorite to win the MVP.
Yesterday, Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio discussed the matchup and revealed that he believes there has been one other quarterback like him in the last 50 years. Fangio told reporters that QB is Michael Vick.
“Yeah, fair share mobile quarterbacks? Yes. Then there’s Lamar Jackson. He’s unlike anybody else,” Fangio said, via the team’s website. “The only other player that’s been like him in the last 50 years is Michael Vick. He’s a tremendous player. Kudos to Ozzie [Newsome] and Eric [DeCosta] for picking him. Thirty-one other teams that passed him by are kicking themselves. He’s really improved over the years. Dynamic with the ball. Good passer. He makes their offense go.”
Comparing Michael Vick And Lamar Jackson
When Vick entered the NFL, the league hadn’t dealt with a rushing threat like him at QB since Randall Cunningham in the early 90s and he was able to do it more successfully than anybody the league had ever seen.
In just his second season in the NFL, Vick ran for 777 yards, which was the the third most in a single season at the time. In his fourth year he topped that with 902.
In his sixth season, he became the first QB to ever top 1000 rushing yards. To this day he holds the record for most career rushing yards by a quarterback.
Jackson has taken everything Vick did and improved upon it. He has shown more ability as a passer than Vick did. He has already broken Vick’s single-season rushing record and could break his career record as soon as next year.
Jackson has even won more consistently.
What really connects the two QBs is the way they each changed the perception of the way the position should be played and speed that is rarely seen at the position.
The Difference Between Jackson and Everybody Else
The thing that really stands out about Jackson right now is that speed.
There are plenty of mobile quarterbacks in the NFL right now and a few that are playing at an elite level. The damage they can do with their legs has put both Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen into the MVP conversation at times this season.
However, those other two find much of their success on the ground because of their physicality. Allen has never had concerns about throwing his body around to get yards and Hurts has become one of the NFL’s most dangerous short-yardage weapons.
For Jackson, it’s a blend of physicality and speed that make him such a different challenge for opposing defenses.
It gives him the ability to make plays that other QBs simply can’t. Combine that with his ability to throw the football and it’s no surprise that he has been a nightmare for opposing defenses throughout his career.
The scariest part is that the Ravens have just finally started giving him weapons to work with, so things might only get tougher for the opposition from here.
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