OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson turned 28 years old on Tuesday.
He’s already on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
To argue otherwise would be to forecast something completely unforeseen on or off the field for the two-time league MVP and four-time Pro Bowl selection who officially became the greatest rushing quarterback in NFL history last month. There may have been some reasonable questions about how his playing style would age earlier in his career, but Jackson improving leaps and bounds as a pocket passer has eliminated any doubt about his ability to play well into his 30s — assuming the same reasonable degree of health any player needs for a long career in a brutal sport.
After another season of setting NFL records and personal bests, Jackson is very deserving of a third MVP award. Whether voters agree or not won’t change that.
But with another January upon us, none of that really matters. Jackson himself recently referred to interest in individual accolades as a “childhood mindset,” which isn’t his focus as he winds down his seventh season.
Yes, he’s chasing the elusive Super Bowl that would augment a still-growing legacy magnitudes more than accepting another MVP at the NFL Honors show next month. Dan Marino retired with a slew of all-time passing records to his name and is remembered 25 years later as the greatest quarterback in NFL history never to win a Super Bowl. Legacies are defined by January as everyone remembers Tom Brady’s seven championships rather than his three regular-season MVPs.
That’s not to suggest Jackson is running out of time. Not even close. History is littered with great athletes who carried the burden of not being able to win the big one until finally doing it.
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But for Jackson, it’s more about how he’s performed than the defeats themselves. Going toe to toe with another great quarterback and coming up short is disappointing enough — ask Josh Allen about his showdowns with Patrick Mahomes — but Jackson’s play too often not coming close to his regular-season standard is what’s left many scratching their heads.
Jackson has been far too great a quarterback to be so underwhelming in January.
Asked Tuesday whether he’s had to fight being too amped up in past playoff games, Jackson nodded as his eyes grew wide.
“I just [get] too excited — that’s all. Too antsy like I’m seeing things before it happens,” said Jackson, who’s produced passer ratings of 78.8 or lower in five of his six career playoff games. “I’m like, ‘Oh, I have to calm myself down.’
“But just being more experienced, I’ve found a way to balance it out.”
One hopes so as this postseason is shaping up to be another good opportunity for the Ravens, who finished the season on a four-game winning streak sporting the NFL’s best offense and a defense that’s improved dramatically since Week 11. An 8-5 start ruined any chance of earning the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage for the second straight year and third time since 2019, but Baltimore has an extremely healthy roster with the exception of Pro Bowl wide receiver Zay Flowers, something that shouldn’t be overlooked in sizing up the contenders.
After being haunted by last January’s AFC title game loss to Kansas City for the last calendar year, Jackson and the Ravens want their shot at redemption. That begins with Saturday’s wild-card tilt with Pittsburgh as Pro Bowl linebacker Roquan Smith noted that they “can’t jump right back to the AFC championship game” just yet.
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Of course, Jackson can’t do it alone, and he’s far from the only reason the Ravens have fallen short in recent postseasons as you can point to other standout players and coaching decisions letting down at critical times. But plain and simple, it’s very difficult to win such high-stakes games when your all-world quarterback doesn’t play like one.
One January trend Baltimore needs to reverse has been its inability to take care of the football. In each of Jackson’s four playoff defeats, the Ravens not only lost the turnover battle, but they were minus-2 or worse in three of those.
And while Jackson just became the first player in NFL history to throw 40 touchdowns with fewer than five interceptions and the Ravens set a franchise low with 11 giveaways this season, it’s not as though their heralded 2019 (third-fewest giveaways in the NFL) or 2023 (12th) teams had chronic problems with turnovers. Such miscues were out of character for those teams.
“You have to try to be mistake free,” Jackson said. “The game is won with the turnover battle and keeping the ball in your control — moving the ball down the field, getting first downs, putting points on the board obviously. That’s how you win those games.”
Despite losing their last four games to close the regular season, the Steelers remain a tough test in that department as the Ravens committed three turnovers in the Week 11 loss at Pittsburgh and were fortunate enough to recover all three of their fumbles in their Week 16 victory in Baltimore. The Steelers tied for the league lead with 33 takeaways this season, a big reason why they’ve lasted to this point despite a below-average offense.
Ultimately, there’s no simple solution for breaking through besides being the team the Ravens have been at their best during the regular season. For the third time in six years, the well-regarded efficiency metric DVOA ranked Baltimore as No. 1 in the NFL and among the best regular-season teams of the last 45 years. The Ravens also have an NFL-high nine Pro Bowl selections and defeated five of the other six AFC playoff teams in the regular season.
There’s no reason why Jackson and the Ravens shouldn’t be great in January.
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But it won’t be easy as the AFC bracket sets up the potential for a second-round trip to Buffalo and a conference championship rematch against the Chiefs in Kansas City.
The story would write itself much like how Joe Flacco and Baltimore took down Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in the 2012 postseason to avenge the disappointment of the previous year and go on to win the Super Bowl in New Orleans, the same place it’ll be played next month.
A year older with the scars of past Januaries, Jackson just has to go do it.
It begins with beating the Steelers, whom the Ravens bested three weeks ago to exorcise some demons of the regular-season variety. Jackson was superb with three touchdown passes in that contest after enduring past difficulties against Pittsburgh.
“That game doesn’t even matter anymore,” Jackson said. “It’s win or go home right now, so I’m locked in with the same mindset I had before that last game.”
Below is Tuesday’s injury report:
BALTIMORE
DID NOT PARTICIPATE: WR Zay Flowers (knee)
LIMITED PARTICIPATION: S Kyle Hamilton (knee), RB Justice Hill (concussion/illness)
FULL PARTICIPATION: WR/RS Deonte Harty (knee)
PITTSBURGH
DID NOT PARTICIPATE: DT Cam Heyward (illness), G Isaac Seumalo (rest)
LIMITED PARTICIPATION: G Mason McCormick (hand), TE MyCole Pruitt (knee)
FULL PARTICIPATION: OT Calvin Anderson (groin), LB Cole Holcomb (knee), CB Donte Jackson (back), DL Logan Lee (calf), WR Roman Wilson (hamstring)
