Lamar Jackson Is Changing His Postseason Narrative
Jackson entered Saturday’s game with a 1-3 playoff record and plenty of questions about his big-game performance.
Now he’s brought the Ravens to the AFC championship game—and a showdown with another elite quarterback.
Saturday’s AFC divisional matchup ended up being the game Baltimore had been waiting for since 2018,
but the first 30 minutes felt more like a game this city has seen too many times in recent history.
Throughout the first half, the top-seeded Ravens found themselves in a surprisingly competitive battle against a heavy underdog.
Lamar Jackson was under siege and receiving little help from his supporting cast.
And the raucous crowd at the M and T Bank Stadium started to get restless as the teams went into the dressing room and the score was 10-10 at half-time.
Not only the stands were tense.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh described the locker room as “boring” at halftime, but not necessarily in a bad way.
Jackson, usually the quieter leader according to teammate Patrick Queen, was the loudest voice in the room
and he didn’t share words of encouragement.
“I was mad,” Jackson said after the game. “We had no choice but to play better.
“Unfortunately, that was the only detail he was willing to give the team about his profane message
.”It would be inappropriate for me to say that here,” Jackson admitted.
Everything Jackson said seemed to work.
The Ravens scored 24 unanswered points in the second half and Jackson finished with four touchdowns in a 34-10 victory.
It was the 27-year-old’s first home run of the playoffs and helped book his first trip to the AFC Championship Game.
His performance, which included 100 yards and a 93.9 QBR, should also answer any questions about his ability to win in the postseason.
Those questions stemmed from Baltimore’s past playoff failures, including a stunning loss to Tennessee early in 2020
a season in which Jackson won the MVP and the Ravens finished with the NFL’s best record.
The Titans’ defensive scheme was simple but effective that night, as defensive lineman Logan Ryan explained after the 28-12 victory.
“We wanted to give [Jackson] loaded boxes all night to get him out of the running game.
Either we played with a loaded box and man-to-man and forced him to hit to throw the ball out hand-to-hand or we played zone defense.
So we had eight, nine male boxes throughout the night.
When you play Madden and run Engage Eight all day, it’s hard to take care of the ball.
“Four years later, the Texans adopted a similar defensive approach and made no attempt to hide their intent.
The Texans shut out 75 percent of the playoffs of Jackson, a career high for the Ravens quarterback
and pressured him on more than half the plays.
But the plan that worked so well for Tennessee in 2020 proved ineffective for a more streamlined version of Jackson and the Ravens. ‘ offense
Jackson completed 13-of-18 passes for 120 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the blitz.
A lot of that production came in the second half after the Ravens made some key adjustments, according to Harbaugh.
“I think we just did a better job getting the ball out on time,” the Ravens coach said.
“I think Todd [Monken] called a different game.
It wasn’t so much hold the ball and try to push the ball downfield, which Lamar did a good job.
”Harbaugh credited Jackson for providing valuable input on how to adjust against Houston’s
surprisingly aggressive plan and said Baltimore had to flip its protections in the second half.
Jackson getting the ball out quicker also helped. His average throw time dropped by a full second in the second half when he worked against the blitz.
That Monken, the Ravens’ first-year offensive coordinator, was able to adapt to an explosive scheme will not go unnoticed in Baltimore,
where fans watched his predecessor Greg Roman struggle in the area for four years.
And the fact that Monken leaned on Jackson to figure out what changes were needed didn’t go unnoticed by his quarterback.
“It means a lot that OC trusts you to be there and put our team in a great position,” Jackson said.
“That’s all I need and we’ll go from there.”Overall, this may have been the most impressive performance of Jackson’s career.
It was an environment that had given him trouble before: against opposing defenses in the playoffs.
And while Jackson relied on his legs throughout the game
offsetting a ground attack that wasn’t productive with a non-Jackson run before garbage time
he won the game with quick decision-making and accurate passing. It was a comprehensive support service;
to show critics would have told him he was not capable. And he did it on the biggest stage of his career to date.
Jackson gets an even bigger stage next Sunday when Baltimore hosts the Bills-Chiefs winner against either Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen.
The two are widely regarded as the two best quarterbacks in the game,
but they must make room for Jackson up top if he is to pile on a trip to the Super Bowl for another likely MVP award.
This year, which began with a contract impasse and a public rejection of some teams after some teams requested a trade,
has turned challenging for Lamar and will continue for at least one more week.
“He’s not done yet,” Regina said of his quarterback after the win. “That’s why he’s so hungry.
That’s why you can see it in his eyes.
You can see it in the way he talks [and] the way he’s acting right now. He has a lot to prove, and he’s going to prove that.”.
