OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Earlier this season, Baltimore Ravens quarterbacks coach Tee Martin performed a clip of Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes in final season’s AFC Championship Sport for Lamar Jackson and his teammates.
“Composure, composure, composure,” Mahomes yelled within the huddle through the fourth quarter. “I need y’all to complete, however I need composure.”
Martin’s message to Jackson? Championship groups are emotionally and mentally able to win the hardest video games.
Jackson has received as many NFL Most Beneficial Participant awards as postseason video games — two. In a 12 months when he put up his greatest statistical numbers — changing into the primary participant to provide greater than 4,000 passing yards and 900 speeding yards in a season — Jackson faces a distinction that illustrates his regular-season domination and playoff disappointment: He is the one a number of NFL MVP who has not received a Tremendous Bowl, a lot much less reached one.
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Serving to Jackson overcome his playoff struggles and advance to the Tremendous Bowl has grow to be the franchise’s most urgent precedence. Since 2018 and amongst quarterbacks with at the very least 5 begins, Jackson has the NFL’s fourth-best regular-season report at 70-24 (.745) however is tied for the worst postseason mark at 2-4 (.333). Within the playoffs, Jackson has produced as many turnovers (6 interceptions, 3 misplaced fumbles) as touchdowns (9).
When Baltimore hosts the Pittsburgh Steelers in Saturday’s AFC wild-card sport (8 p.m. ET, Prime Video), the Ravens will discover out if Jackson has discovered how one can lean on an upgraded supporting solid, keep away from uncharacteristic errors and use his previous postseason expertise to zero in on his final aim.
“I would just be too excited,” Jackson stated when recalling what his previous postseasons have taught him. “That is all. Too antsy. I am seeing issues earlier than it occurred, like, ‘Oh, I bought to calm myself down.’ However simply being extra skilled, I’ve discovered a strategy to stability it out.”
Requested what Jackson’s mindset can be within the playoffs, tight finish Mark Andrews stated: “Locked in. Utterly locked in.”
The Ravens have tried to scale back the strain on Jackson by enhancing the gamers round him. Up to now three drafts, Jackson has watched Baltimore bolster the offensive line by including Professional Bowl heart Tyler Linderbaum and rookie beginning proper sort out Roger Rosengarten. Jackson has his first Professional Bowl vast receiver in Zay Flowers, however the go catcher’s availability is in query after he injured his proper knee within the regular-season finale.
Baltimore’s largest addition got here when it signed free agent working again Derrick Henry, whose 1,921 speeding yards are the eleventh most in a single season in NFL historical past. His highly effective presence, particularly late in video games, was meant to strike worry in defenses and supply some reduction for Jackson.
“Now,” stated Corridor of Fame defensive again Rod Woodson, a Ravens radio analyst, “Lamar would not should be Superman.”
THERE’S ONLY ONE postseason sport Jackson nonetheless thinks about: final season’s AFC championship, a 17-10 loss to the Chiefs.
“It was proper there,” Jackson stated, alluding to reaching the Tremendous Bowl. “However my thoughts, I am centered on now, although. It’s what it’s at this level.”
In that sport, Jackson’s largest mistake was an uncommon one.
With the Chiefs main 17-7 within the fourth quarter, Jackson moved Baltimore to the Kansas Metropolis 25-yard line earlier than launching a dangerous throw to tight finish Isaiah Probably, who was a step behind a crowd of defenders. By the point the underthrown go reached the top zone, Probably was surrounded by three Chiefs gamers, and Jackson’s throw was intercepted.
“Within the earlier years, I feel he is pushed, he is tried to make performs within the postseason,” Woodson stated. “And usually in any sport, if you’re making an attempt to make performs, they do not usually come. You allow them to come to you.”
Jackson has averaged one turnover each 82 snaps within the common season. Within the playoffs? One turnover each 45 snaps.
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In Baltimore’s 2020 divisional spherical loss to the Buffalo Payments, Jackson threw a pick-six on a 101-yard return by cornerback Taron Johnson. He has thrown just one different pick-six in his profession and it got here off a deflected go in opposition to the Cleveland Browns in 2023.
“You bought to attempt to be mistake-free,” Jackson stated. “The sport’s received with the turnover battle and retaining the ball in your management, transferring the ball down the sphere, getting first downs. … Clearly, that is the way you win these video games.”
Jackson’s change in play from the common season to the postseason is among the most dramatic within the league. His QBR from the common season (67.4) to the postseason (53.2) is a 14.2-point drop-off, the second highest amongst quarterbacks since 2006, behind solely Carolina Panthers veteran Andy Dalton, in line with ESPN Analysis.
In Jackson’s first playoff sport, within the 2018 wild-card spherical, he fumbled thrice in opposition to the Los Angeles Chargers. Within the 2019 divisional spherical, he had two interceptions in opposition to the Tennessee Titans. Each video games had been losses.
“When [Lamar is] at his greatest, he is taking part in free,” Linderbaum stated. “So I do not suppose he must have any strain or really feel any strain. I feel he is at his greatest when he is having enjoyable, and that is our job to attempt to get him into that frame of mind.”
JACKSON’S HIGHLIGHT-MAKING performs have made him and the Ravens must-watch TV. The reigning NFL MVP has performed an almost excellent common season by eliminating errors.
He has thrown 4 interceptions in 2024, with three coming off his receiver’s palms and the opposite coming when a receiver did not end his route. In his earlier MVP seasons, Jackson threw six interceptions in 2019 and 7 in 2023.
“His thoughts is on one other degree,” Martin stated. “What he sees, what he thinks about, what he anticipates and the way he acts on it’s one other 12 months superior.”
Jackson is the primary participant in NFL historical past to provide greater than 40 landing passes (41) and fewer than 5 interceptions (4) in a season.
“Each sport, his will, his struggle, he is after perfection,” Andrews stated. “His will to win video games and be on level, to be him, to be Lamar, and even elevate that from week to week is actually unbelievable.”
Backup quarterback Josh Johnson believes Jackson has restricted his errors by taking possession of the offense and getting everybody on the identical web page.
“Lamar’s consciousness will not be talked about sufficient,” Johnson stated. “His God-given means permits him to do issues that most individuals can solely dream of. And so lots of people suppose he is improvising. However quite a lot of instances it isn’t.”
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On Saturday, Jackson faces his largest postseason problem within the Steelers, a crew that traditionally has compelled him to make errors. They’re the one crew that Jackson has thrown extra interceptions (9) than touchdowns (8) in opposition to.
Jackson, who’s 2-4 in opposition to Pittsburgh, had his greatest sport in opposition to them in final month’s 34-17 win, throwing for 207 yards and three touchdowns. Regardless of this, he could not rejoice. His final interception of the season got here in opposition to them within the fourth quarter after a miscommunication with vast receiver Rashod Bateman, who minimize off his route.
“I used to be mad till the sport was over,” Jackson stated. “I am mendacity, I am nonetheless mad. The sport [is] over, I am nonetheless sizzling.”
When the Ravens captured the AFC North title for a second straight season in Week 18, Jackson did not put on the celebratory hat and T-shirt like a lot of his teammates. Contained in the locker room, he was sad concerning the final drive due to what Ravens coach John Harbaugh referred to as “some personnel challenges.”
“The dude is a competitor,” Harbaugh stated. “He is a fighter. He is simply considered one of a sort. There’s no person like Lamar Jackson.”
IN JACKSON’S SEVENTH season, attending to a Tremendous Bowl is the final field to verify. But it surely was that approach for a lot of quarterbacks.
Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre did not attain their first Tremendous Bowls till they had been 27. Jackson turned 28 on Tuesday.
It took Peyton Manning and Drew Brees till age 30 and their ninth seasons to advance to their first Tremendous Bowls. Manning had received two NFL MVPs earlier than reaching his first Tremendous Bowl.
“Expertise counts in lots of conditions, and he is bought quite a lot of expertise within the playoffs now,” stated Marty Mornhinweg, Jackson’s first offensive coordinator with Baltimore. “Playoff video games are totally different than regular-season video games. So he is had that have. And I might count on Lamar and the Baltimore Ravens to win a pair Tremendous Bowls within the close to future.”
Earlier than the beginning of this season, Ravens normal supervisor Eric DeCosta seen an “urgency” in Jackson. DeCosta stated Jackson was in tune together with his teammates and coaches in practices.
“I can actually get a way that this man is so hyper-focused on this season and actually working to get a hoop,” DeCosta stated in August.
At the beginning of coaching camp, Jackson recalled what he stated when Baltimore chosen him with the final choose of the primary spherical within the 2018 draft: “They are going to get a Tremendous Bowl out of me. Imagine that.”
“I stated that, and I meant that,” Jackson stated. “That is the best degree of the sport we play. You have to exit a champion, and that is what I need to be labeled as — a champion. [I don’t] simply need to be labeled as MVP right here and there. I need to be a champion.”
