The reigning league MVP aims to stay more calm this time around starting on Saturday.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has been beyond dominant and virtually unstoppable during the regular season since his breakout season in his second year in the league when he won the first of his two MVPs by a unanimous vote. His career win percentage of .745 is the third-highest all-time since the 1970 merger, trailing only Patrick Mahomes (.795) and Tom Brady (.754).
Unfortunately, the four-time Pro Bowl signal caller and his team haven’t been anywhere near as successful in the playoffs with a record of 2-4 with him at the helm and 2-5 overall as a team as he wasn’t available for their Wildcard loss in the 2022 postseason. As a starter, Jackson came up short in the first round as a rookie in 2018, the divisional round in 2019 and 2020 and most recently the AFC championship in 2023.
By nature, being the franchise quarterback of any team but especially a perennial playoff contender comes with being exalted in moments of triumph and bearing the burden of blame when they fall short even though it’s always a team effort. When addressing the media on his 28th birthday just a few days out from playing in his seventh career playoff game he reflected on some common aspects of his previous losses that he has learned from including keeping his composure at all times.
“I’m [usually] just too excited – that’s all. [I’m] too antsy, that’s all,” Jackson said. “I’m seeing things before it happens like, ‘Oh, I have to calm myself down.’ But just being more experienced, I’ve found a way to balance it out.”
Being more even-keeled no matter the situation in a playoff atmosphere is essential to success. It was one of the best attributes of Jackson’s predecessor, Joe Flacco, who earned the nicknames ‘January Joe’ and ‘Joe Cool’ for his unflappable calm demeanor during his time as the face of the franchise but especially in the postseason.
During his first trip to the playoffs as Jackson’s play-caller, offensive coordinator Todd Monken didn’t think his star quarterback was antsy at all. He aims to get him and the entire unit going and in a rhythm early on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“I haven’t seen that,” Monken said. “In the playoff games last year, I thought he started off fine, I thought we started off fine in some ways. We’re going to do everything we can for all of us to get comfortable and start fast. I mean that’s the key to any game so whatever we can do from a player standpoint, from a coach’s standpoint to get us to start fast is the ultimate goal.”
While the intensity and speed of the game are amplified for most players in the playoffs, Jackson believes it’s actually more slow and methodical.
“It’s just a lot of back-and-forth,” Jackson said. “That’s what I mean by slow – like a lot of back-and-forth.”
The same keys to success during the regular season are even more vital come January because the teams that avoid self-inflicted wounds are more likely to succeed and advance to the next round. By not turning the ball over and drawing penalties, they can stay ahead of the chains and put up points on offense and on defense, they wouldn’t yield extended scoring opportunities to opposing teams while forcing turnovers of their own.
Lamar on what he’s learned from his playoff experience: pic.twitter.com/dVv8QrawEq
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) January 7, 2025
“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.”
The Ravens have done a good job of taking care of the ball during their four-game winning streak with a differential of 6-2 and while they were the most penalized team over the course of the regular season, they’ve cut down and been more disciplined in that aspect within the margins of the game as well over the last month.
Against a Pittsburgh Steeler team that is reeling after losing four straight yet is still dangerous given how familiar the two archrivals are with one another, it is imperative that the Ravens stay calm, cool and collected and it starts with Jackson. Typically when he has been too amped up or out of sorts in playoff games, the trickledown effect is massive and the whole team begins to fold subtly in key moments as they are still rarely blown out.
The Ravens are entering this game as nearly double-digit favorites to prevail and rightfully so because they are the superior team playing at home. Not only do they have a multitude of ways to attack offensively but they’ve been the best unit in the league defensively since their first matchup with the Steelers. All that’s left now is to play a clean game in which they execute on both sides of the ball and not let the moment get too big which doesn’t seem likely to happen given the “locked in” sentiment that has proliferated from every member of the team that has been in front of a microphone and or camera since the regular season ended.
“We know what’s at stake,” Jackson said. “It’s win or go home, and it’s a team we’re very familiar with [and] a great team at that… You’re just locked in [and] dialed in.”