CANTON, Ohio -- Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh believes there needs to be a more realistic perspective when it comes to Lamar Jackson after the rookie first-round pick produced an uneven performance in his NFL preseason debut on Thursday night.
"Everybody has these expectations that you're going to see fireworks," Harbaugh said after the Ravens' 17-16 win over the Chicago Bears. "I thought he played well."
Jackson's final numbers in the Hall of Fame game were indicative of his up-and-down effort: 4-of-10 passing for 33 yards. He threw one touchdown and one interception for a 42.9 rating.
Jackson threw some good passes, including a 7-yard touchdown to tight end Hayden Hurst. He also made some regrettable mistakes, like throwing late to the outside and getting intercepted.
"It wasn't what I expected," Jackson said. "I felt like I should've had more touchdowns out there. There is still room for improvement for us."
The Ravens started Robert Griffin III and gave the entire second half to Jackson. In seven possessions, Jackson led only one scoring drive.
For Harbaugh, the evaluation with Jackson goes beyond the scoreboard.
"The first task we gave him was to operate the offense. He did," Harbaugh said. "He got the plays called. He got people lined up. He got snap counts off. That stuff gets taken for granted. Well, we say you got to go down the field and score points. And sure you do. But there's a rookie quarterback out there for the first time handling the whole offense. I thought he did a very good job. That's really what I asked him to do today. He'll build from that."
Harbaugh pointed out that Jackson wasn't helped by poor pass protection, which led to three sacks.
It looked like Jackson was at his most comfortable pulling the ball down and running. But he didn't break a run longer than 10 yards.
Jackson ran eight times for 25 yards (a 3.1-yard average). On one run, Jackson thought he was going to go out of bounds and was shocked when he was tackled from behind.
"You can't jog. The linemen are fast," Jackson said. "The NFL speed is totally different from college."
Jackson played much like he has practiced in training camp. He threw the ball better when on the run and struggled on throws outside the numbers.
His biggest misstep was trying to hit Jaleel Scott on the sideline. He telegraphed the throw and was interrupted by Doran Grant.
"He did well," Griffin said. "There are certain things that he's going to have to learn just by being out there. I think he'll be fine."