Lamar Jackson Is The Ravens Shooting Star

Will he go the distance during the playoffs?

The Baltimore Ravens were only founded in 1996 but when they beat the Cleveland Browns at the beginning of January, it sealed their second consecutive AFC North Championship and their eighth overall. It was also the 16th time they have made the playoffs.

The main characters in the Ravens’ play are varied but the man in charge of the throttle has been quarterback Lamar Jackson. The MVP winner in 2019 and 2023 has been simply sensational, especially in the first phase of the season. The 28-year-old is the first quarterback in the history of the NFL to accumulate over 4,000 passing yards and over 800 rushing yards. He has been taking out defenses from the pocket in 2024. The so-called weaknesses in his game are now a sharp arrow in his quarterback quiver.

He has hot wheels, especially when the Ravens blitzed the Houston Texans 31-2 in December. “I was jogging,” Jackson joked, but he most certainly wasn’t. Records fell like skittles.  He is the first quarterback to complete 40 passing touchdowns and four or fewer interceptions in a season. Although Josh Allen is the bookies’ favorite to win the MVP award, for sheer power play and edge-of-the-seat speed, Jackson ticks more boxes.

Jackson has done something more legacy-breaking by taking the role of signal caller to new stations. He has a quarterback rating over 100 in more than two-thirds of the regular season statistics and he also has a coach in John Harbaugh who cannot believe his eyes.  “What else needs to be said? And, not just that, but the dude is a competitor. He’s a fighter. He’s just one of a kind. There’s nobody like Lamar Jackson,” said Harbaugh, those Super Bowl odds are riding on his shoulders to a large extent.

The Ravens finished the regular season on a four-game winning run to take their complete ratio to 12-5. There was a slow start to the campaign. The offense is what dominates teams, although there’s still a question mark about how they might match up against one of the big hitters. It’s not all about Jackson though.

Derrick Henry rushed for 1,921 yards this season. Coach Harbaugh again chooses to call out the difference makers.  “We have been really good at running the ball for a long time, but this is different. I mean, Derrick Henry is different,” he said.

There are some question marks about that pass defense that at one point was the worst in the league. The Ravens are also prone to giving away a high number of penalties which will not help composure in tight spots at the business end of games. On the other hand, the surge of form has come at the back end of the season, which is perfectly timed and has assisted in getting them into a key seeding.

The Ravens were the No. 3 seed in the AFC with their 12-5 record which is inferior to the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills, However, it did secure home advantage against the number six seed the Pittsburgh Steelers. Baltimore lost a very tight match against the Black and Gold at home in November, but then did the business by a 17-point margin in mid-December as they charged to the finish line in the last throes of the regular season.

It almost seems too churlish to mention that Jackson’s playoff record is 2-4. Kansas sacked him four times in 2023. The man himself though has already tackled the past and knows that he can’t repeat the statistical paucity of six previous attempts when he had six interceptions and lost three fumbles.

In 2019, when Baltimore finished with a superb 14-2 record in the regular season, Jackson was a young man. Four years later they posted a 13-4 season. Both times, the Ravens possessed the best winning percentage before postseason but couldn’t get it over the line when it really mattered. 2024 ended with four convincing wins and 30-plus points returns. Momentum matters.

Multiple mistakes are for losers in the Super Bowl and this is where experience comes in. Jackson has never seen it all the way to the business end. If the late season form can hold up and the offense put their prime form on Pittsburgh, then anything is possible. Moving Kyle Hamilton to centerfield has certainly shored up the defense, although if they go behind there is a question mark about the composure to get back into the game under the big lights.

Jackson’s detractors keep reminding him that he hasn’t landed the big prize. Maybe seventh playoff heaven is around the corner.

[Related Article: Defending the Steelers]

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/01/10/street-talk/playoffs-and-lamar-jackson/