The last time Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was on the football field for a meaningful game, he lost to the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 17-10 in the AFC Championship Game. That was last January.
Now, Jackson is preparing to open up the 2024 NFL regular season against the Chiefs on Sept. 5, but he isn’t any extra motivated for Week 1 just because it’s a rematch with Kansas City.
“I really don’t care who we play; it really didn’t matter,” Jackson said, via a transcript from the team (h/t Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk). “At the end of the day, our goal is to make it to the Super Bowl.”
Jackson added that the Ravens really need to beat the Chiefs when it matters in the playoffs; not in a regular-season game.
“We lost to them in the playoffs. Just us beating them in the regular season doesn’t really do anything,” Jackson said. “It just helps us keep stacking up wins to hopefully make it to the playoffs if anything to try to get in that same position again and hopefully be successful. It really doesn’t matter who we play [in the] first game; obviously it’s the Chiefs, but I really didn’t care.”
Jackson went 20-for-37 with 272 yards, a touchdown and an interception while carrying the ball eight times for 54 yards in the AFC Championship Game defeat.
Can Lamar Jackson and the Ravens finally get over the hump?
Jackson and the Ravens always seem to be knocking on the door, but they can never actually get inside.
Baltimore finished with the best record in the NFL this past season, which marked the second time the Ravens have achieved that feat since Jackson took over as the starting quarterback midway through the 2018 campaign. But once again, the Ravens fell short.
The club’s trip to the AFC Championship Game did mark its deepest playoff run in the Jackson era, but Baltimore isn’t trying to make deep playoff runs; it is trying to win a Super Bowl.
Jackson has gone just 2-4 in playoff games, and his statistical resume in those contests isn’t exactly great with six passing touchdowns and six picks. Of course, it certainly isn’t all Jackson’s fault, as the Ravens have absolutely lacked elite weaponry on the offensive side of the ball.
But at some point, Jackson and Co. are going to have to break through.
Will 2024 finally be the year? It definitely won’t be easy.
Not only does Baltimore have to contend with Kansas City, but it will have a bear of a time in its own division. The Ravens will have to deal with the likes of the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers, all of whom finished over .500 last season. The Browns and Steelers both made the playoffs.
Plus, the AFC also houses clubs like the Houston Texans, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins.
It will be a tough road to the Super Bowl for Baltimore yet again, but Jackson now has two MVP awards under his belt after winning the honor this past year. It has gotten to the point where he needs to begin truly proving himself in the postseason.
