Kyle Goon: The discourse around Lamar Jackson is hell. Watching him play is salvation.

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s the damndest thing. You can watch Lamar Jackson play hundreds of snaps, do the most incredible things you’ve ever seen on a football field and drill into your brain that you should never underestimate him.

And, still, his next highlight will take you by surprise.

Even scrutinizing the pixels of a slow-motion replay, it’s hard to see how Jackson found daylight beneath the tangle of four players much, much larger than he is. Somehow, from underneath Arden Key and DeForest Buckner, from the narrowest gap between his linemen Ronnie Stanley and Jovaughn Gwyn, Jackson didn’t just emerge but blistered forward. Not only was he somehow Not Sacked, but he was almost immediately weaving around blockers on his way to one of the most unlikely third-and-16 conversions anyone has ever seen.

From the sideline, 40-year-old Calais Campbell (who has seen a lot of crazy football things) was stunned.

“It was like, ‘What just happened? How do you get it there?’” Campbell said. “How many people can actually do that? There’s not many.”

There may only be one person who can escape a pocket so completely collapsed. At the start of every season, Lamar Jackson reminds us he can shimmy his way out of nearly any squeeze, as he did in the Ravens’ 41-23 win over the Colts.

The biggest Jackson escape act, however, occurs annually at kickoff. Every offseason, Baltimore’s franchise quarterback is locked in a cage of discourse — a spiral of often repeating narratives around his ability, his expectations and his future.

If the offseason is Jackson’s hell, the season itself is a kind of heaven. It reminds us his otherworldly talent is why he commands so much attention in the first place.

Sunday’s effort against the Colts was not a perfect outing for Jackson, but it was a fitting picture of how many mistakes he can single-handedly erase.

For an offensive line that gave him spotty protection and drew a blizzard of penalty flags, he scrambled and stayed alive to make plays. For a receiving corps whittled down by injury, Jackson made do with targets such as practice squad receiver Chris Moore, who caught a 53-yard bomb from Jackson late in the game.

It says something that someone as talented and accomplished as Derrick Henry (who trucked his way up the NFL record book with 144 rushing yards and three scores in Indy) would immediately kneel to Jackson as the superior player, calling him “the best player in the league,” without hesitation.

“I know what Lamar’s about,” Henry said. “You all have seen it. He just keeps showing you.”

Why is it so hard to just enjoy him? Why are we so compelled to dissect his magic, rendering football poetry into meaningless hot takes?

I must confess, as a columnist, I am part of this cycle — although sometimes I wonder if I help direct it or feed it or if I am merely another prisoner. So much of the offseason, we spend time considering the Big Questions of Jackson’s career: Can he win the Super Bowl? Where does he rank among quarterbacks? Does he have enough help?

Then there’s my personal white whale: When will he sign a contract extension, and will he finish his career in Baltimore?

Jackson feeds some of this himself, remaining enigmatic and remote when it comes to his future. If you take general manager Eric DeCosta at face value, Jackson seems more comfortable with the seeming contract standstill than the team does. Of course we are going to wonder about how long he’ll be a Raven during those long months without football — how could we not?

But I’m guessing nothing makes Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti want to drive a Brinks truck straight to Jackson’s house more than seeing him healthy on the field again. When he has afternoons like he had against the Colts, it is a live wire of pure adrenaline. The desire to analyze and pontificate breaks down — all that’s left is awe.

If you want Jackson to win a Super Bowl, I get it. If you think Patrick Mahomes or Matthew Stafford or (deep inhale) somehow Josh Allen is a better, more accomplished quarterback, you’re entitled to your opinion.

But, when I watch Jackson stay poised in the pocket with Colts linebacker Jaylon Carlies bearing down on him, then throw a dart past the blitz to Zay Flowers on what would be a 54-yard touchdown, I’m not sure there’s a player I enjoy watching more.

We are witnessing a special football talent, someone who does things no other quarterback — let’s face it, no other athlete — is doing in the NFL. The long wait through the offseason is worth it, if only because Jackson transcends the usual bounds of reality.

It’s only after moments like Sunday’s season opener, after seeing a highlight that feels revelatory even by Jackson’s standards, when we fully appreciate how much we missed watching him play. Whenever these days are over and we look back over our shoulders at the full scope of Jackson’s career, all the talk will vanish in our memories.

These moments we get to see now, every Sunday, will be the only ones we’ll remember well enough to miss.