Lamar Jackson is coming off a 2023 NFL MVP season, however that was never the Baltimore Ravens quarterback end goal, and after a heartbreaking AFC championship loss to Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs, the team is riding on its leader to get over the hump this upcoming season.
A new year usually means a clean slate and leaving every memory from the past behind. Easier said than done, especially when the first game in the schedule features the opponent that ended your season in the first place. The Ravens will travel to Arrowhead where reigning champions Kansas City Chiefs will be waiting.
Jackson’s sour end to his excellent season has not washed away, and the QB knows only revenge can make it taste any better. Baltimore will go full circle. Kansas knocked them out in January at Maryland, now they are looking to spoil the Chiefs party in Missouri. Jackson and the Ravens hope this time the coin will fell on their side.
“How I’m feeling right now,” Jackson said, via The Washington Post. “I wish I was feeling like this, body-wise, in the AFC Championship. We would have won the game. I would have been able to move around for my guys. With me just hurting and can’t move, I know if my legs were good, we would have won that [expletive]. We wouldn’t have even had to throw the ball.“
Lamar Jackson leads the ‘Flag Clinic’ at FC Bayern Campus on April 21, 2024 in Munich, Germany.
It will remain a mystery how the outcome would have gone had Lamar felt as healthy during the Chiefs-Ravens AFC championship game as he does now. Regardless, Jackson has the opportunity to mend that heatrbreak from the past and kickstart his season in similar form to his 2023 MVP version.
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Mahomes vs Jackson head-to-head record
Mahomes and Jackson entered the league one year apart, coming off from college with different narratives. While Mahomes was believed by many to be a reach with the 10th pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, Jackson was thought to be a steal with the last pick of the first round in 2018.
Championships aside, it is unquestionable that both teams are glad they made those choices. Since, the Chiefs and Ravens have faced four times in the regular season and Mahomes holds a 3-1 advantage. Only one time have they clashed in the postseason, and it were the Chiefs who prevailed during the 2023 AFC championship game.
These two franchises have made for exciting matchups every time their paths met, however Jackson’s stats are not too good looking when facing Andy Reid’s defense. Only 4 passing TDs, with 3 others on the ground. Meanwhile, Mahomes has thrown for 12 touchdowns and rushed for one more, which means the Chiefs QB has almost doubled Lamar’s production when facing head-to-head.
Raise crows and they will peck your eyes out
Baltimore’s goal for the 2024 NFL season has not changed from last year. If anything it has only grown bigger on the team and fans, it is becoming more of an obsession rather than a wish. Therefore, the Ravens attacked the offseason and landed superstar running back Derrick Henry. The ‘King’ will grant a deserved rest for Jackson on the running game.
The Ravens had great success through the ground last season, despite terrible luck with injuries, so expect that element of their scheme to become even more dominating with the addition of Henry. The RPO game could become a headache for defenses trying to contend an active threat from both Lamar and Derrick.
The defense has lost two key elements on Patrick Queen and Geno Stone, although it brought in Eddie Jackson to provide great depth to their team’s secondary starred by Kyle Hamilton, Marcus Williams, and Marlon Humphrey. Roquan Smith is not going anywhere, either. And his presence in the middle of the field will turn paramount to contain Chiefs’ menaces Isiah Pacheco and Travis Kelce.
Jackson is focused on the ultimate prize
Lamar Jackson has won the MVP award twice. His next goal is what everybody who plays football chases for. Tired of coming up short and resisting the critics for his losses in the biggest stages, Lamar is only focused on the task at hand.
As he will witness Kansas’ banner raising ceremony, Jackson has made it clear he does not wish to stand on the losing side of the history any longer.
“I want to feel it,” he says. “I want the ultimate award of what I’ve been busting my ass to do all my life.”
