Raven Country

Stephen A. Smith Brutally Slams Lamar Jackson, Ravens

Everyone's "favorite" sports analyst is taking more shots at the Baltimore Ravens.

Jon Alfano

Stephen A. Smith in 2021.
Stephen A. Smith in 2021. / Tori Lynn Schneider / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Another day, another viral rant by Stephen A. Smith, the controversial host of ESPN's "First Take." Unfortuntaley for Baltimore Ravens fans, the team and star quarterback Lamar Jackson are Smith's target of choice this time.

On a recent episode of "First Take," Smith challenged Jackson and the Ravens to send a message to the Kansas City Chiefs, the same team that beat them en route to another Super Bowl title, in Thursday's season-opener.

“If you don't find yourself in that moment because you have a sorry team around you like Matthew Stafford had for 12 years, we're able to appreciate your greatness and the depreciation of the product around you,” Smith said. And say, ‘Yo, that ain't on you,' we haven't been able to say that about Lamar Jackson.

"We look at the Baltimore Ravens; what do we rave about? We rave about coach John Harbaugh. We rave about their defense. We rave about their rough-rider mentality, the intestinal fortitude that they have.”

Expanding on that point, Smith claimed that Jackson and the Ravens have no excuse anymore for not beating Patrick Mahomes' Chiefs, especially after signing Derrick Henry this offseason. Jackson is 1-4 against Mahomes in his career, including the AFC Championship Game loss.

“Now, if you don't take out Patrick Mahomes like you're Josh Allen, and you lose 40 to 36 or something like that, we ain't looking at you. You did your thing. But when you're scoring 10 after you running all over everybody all season long, now I got to look at you,” Smith said. “And then they go out and get Derrick Henry, and that's going to prevent them from crowding the box, like you said. That can unleash you even more. He has even less of an excuse now than he ever has before. It ain't about AFC title game appearances. It ain't about playoff appearances anymore with Lamar Jackson. Hell, it ain't even about the Super Bowl. It's about one dude that repeatedly stands in your way.

“His name is Patrick Mahomes, [he's] in the conversation as the GOAT, already considered arguably the GOAT if he wins three back-to-back-to-back. What you gonna do about it, Lamar? That's it.”

Jackson's sub-par playoff performance has been by far the biggest talking point surrounding him, and the team as a whole. The only way to finally silence these talking heads is to win it all, and hopefully it happens sooner than later, if only to stop hearing about it every single day.

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Jon Alfano

JON ALFANO

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