Ravens Jadeveon Clowney Credits Offseason Program For Productive Season: 'Work Hard, Play Hard!'
The Baltimore Ravens' Week 18 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers was for all intents and purposes, a dead rubber...but it wasn't for defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
The 6-5, 266lb former first-overall pick needed a sack to hit a contract incentive, and he grabbed half a sack to get his $750,000 bonus, which he made sure everyone knew of during the second quarter.
While Clowney got pressure on Mason Rudolph, he revealed that at first, he wasn't entirely sure that he got the sack he needed.
“I didn't even know it was a sack," Clowney said. "I looked back they was like I think you got it I was like well, I needed it, I was excited about it. That was my goal coming to this game try to get on the board and people was texting me, sending me DMs about the incentives and stuff I was like just go play my game and have fun, and with the rain and all that going on it was it was crazy.”
With that sack, it took Clowney's total for the year to 9.5, tying his best-ever return since 2017 with the Houston Texans. He also had the second-most quarterback hits by a Ravens player (19) behind Justin Madubuike (33) and had the third-most tackles for loss (9), behind Kyle Hamilton (10) and Justin Madubuike (12).
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All of that points to a good first season as a Raven for Clowney, but what does he credit for being able to produce at a high level this year?
“The workout in [the] offseason that's where it started,” Clowney said. “We put a plan together we executed all offseason. [I] said when I got where I was going this year, I felt better my body was feeling better I was going to ball out and it's job not done yet I got to continue to do that through all these playoffs in I'm looking forward to it.”
The Ravens have one of the best defenses in football as they rank first for points allowed (just 16.5 a game) and lead the league in sacks (60).
Clowney is just one of three Ravens to get nine or more sacks with Madubuike (13) and Kyle Van Noy (9) helping lead the defensive charge.
Baltimore has the No. 1 seed in the AFC and will get the first-round bye before their Super Bowl quest begins, and Clowney, who is having one of his best seasons since entering the NFL, he's ready to continue that charge in the playoffs.
