Lamar Jackson Remains Ravens' Biggest Problem After Title Game Loss
This was supposed to be the year.
The Baltimore Ravens owned the league's best record, the best all-around team, and had stomped over everyone to reach the AFC Championship game for the first time since 2013. Only the defending Super Bowl champs stood in their way of a Super Bowl appearance.
As good as Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid have been in the past, the Ravens owned the better team in 2023-24, though. Even their franchise quarterback, Lamar Jackson had played better for Baltimore during the season to that point.
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There was no way Baltimore would falter at home to an inferior team.
That's exactly what happened though. The Ravens were punched in the mouth early while the offense struggled to do much of anything throughout Sunday afternoon's 17-10 conference championship loss.
Jackson, for all his regular season and divisional-round success, struggled mightily against Kansas City's complex defensive alignments. The loss, his fourth in the playoffs since being named a starting quarterback in 2018, gave Baltimore one ugly truth that they will have to weigh during another championship-less offseason:
Jackson just isn't good enough to win when it matters most.
Now, that notion might seem ridiculous fresh off a playoff loss to arguably the greatest modern quarterback-head coach tandem in history. In reality, though, Jackson's performance Sunday was the main reason why Baltimore is now eliminated and not getting ready for the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.
Jackson turned the ball over twice Sunday while completing just 54 percent of his passes. He recorded a passer rating of just 75.5 to Mahomes' 100.5. Sure he added 54 yards rushing (leading the team), and a 13-yard completion to himself, but when the game called for him to win it through his arm, Jackson fell woefully short.
"We had some opportunities out there. We’ve just got to take advantage of them," Jackson said after the game. "[We] can't turn the ball over, fumble, [throw an] interception [or] stuff like that. That gave them opportunities to put points on the board and win the game. We get in that red zone, [and] it's been our touchdown all season. We've just got to finish, and we didn't do a good job of finishing."
Many people after the game took issue with the Ravens' poor offensive game plan on Sunday instead of blaming the quarterback. After all, for a team that led the league in rushing, the running backs recorded just eight total carries.
But with the way Kansas City employs their exotic blitz packages, it's hard for teams to get a good gauge on fronts to run the ball with. In the end, if Baltimore was successful in passing even at a remotely competent pace, the rushing attack would have opened up more.
That goes back to Jackson's overall struggles.
Jackson is not the first quarterback to fall to Mahomes and Reid. In that regard, there's no shame in losing a conference title after essentially securing his second MVP award by age 27.
But compared to some of the other quarterbacks who have lost to Kansas City during their current dynasty run, Jackson came up short in an unacceptable fashion.
Consider this: in playoff losses to Mahomes, a quarterback like Josh Allen has still been highly successful despite issues around him. In the divisional round loss to the Chiefs, Allen still completed 66 percent of his passes while making plays to put his team in a position to succeed. Joe Burrow, the only quarterback outside of Tom Brady to beat Mahomes in the AFC, has had a higher completion percentage and passer rating than Jackson in each playoff game against the AFC champs. Even a quarterback like Jalen Hurts, who many will argue is inferior to Jackson's skillset, outplayed Mahomes on the world's biggest stage just a year ago. All the quarterbacks mentioned have been able to play well against the top competition despite some issues surrounding the team.
In Jackson's 2-4 playoff record, he has thrown for a completion percentage under 60% four times while losing to the likes of Allen, Mahomes, and Ryan Tannehill.
Jackson is on his way to winning his second MVP trophy and is among the most exciting players we have in the NFL. Exciting, though, does not always come with championships and his overall deficiencies as a passer were the main reason Baltimore is not preparing for a Super Bowl.
Not being the reason your team lost a playoff game is very important for quarterbacks in this era. It allows you to have a cushion in the organization and allows for strong fan support. Players like Allen, Burrow, Hurts, and others have that.
But as the playoff losses continue to mount, and poor performances come in those playoff games, there should be legitimate concern surrounding Jackson's overall play when it comes to the playoffs.
He simply hasn't shown an ability to successfully win from the pocket when it matters most - something he needs to do to compete with the other great quarterbacks in his conference.
The longer it doesn't happen, though, the more questions will come for Baltimore's franchise quarterback. Especially after signing a five-year, $260 million contract last offseason.
No one deserves blame for Sunday's loss more than Jackson. How he responds this offseason will be very telling to see if Baltimore will be back in 2024-25.
There can be no denying that until his playoff performances get better, the Ravens will be looking at the Jackson-era more with a thought of what the quarterback could NOT do instead of his regular-season success. Until he changes the narrative, the NFL's MVP continues to be the reason why Baltimore's title drought has continued for another year.
