Ravens QB Lamar Jackson not ‘trying to think about Super Bowl yet’

Lamar Jackson dropped back for his first pass in 11-on-11, cocked and fired the ball toward an out-breaking DeAndre Hopkins on the sideline, the pass too far in front of the new wide receiver as it skidded to the grass. One throw later, he connected with a more familiar target, with third-year Pro Bowl receiver Zay Flowers hauling in a pass over the middle and breaking loose in the secondary.

And so it begins.

Jackson and the Ravens kicked off their first day of training camp under warm, sunny skies Wednesday in Owings Mills, where the goal of a trip to the organization’s first Super Bowl since 2012 began in earnest but remains a distant thought.

“I’m really not trying not to think that far,” Jackson, 28 and entering his eighth season in Baltimore, said. “Because every time we have those discussions, man, we get to the playoffs, we don’t punch in, we don’t finish. So I’m pretty much trying to finish camp the correct way and get ready for the Bills.

“I’m not really trying to think about the Super Bowl yet.”

Buffalo, on the other hand, is a more immediate target.

The Bills are the ones who ended the Ravens’ bid for a championship in excruciating fashion, 27-25, on a snowy evening at Highmark Stadium in January. The teams will meet again in Week 1 on Sept. 7, also in Orchard Park, New York, on “Sunday Night Football.”

First, though, six weeks of training camp, including three preseason games and two joint practices.

“We’re just trying to have a great day today,” coach John Harbaugh said when asked about Jackson entering his third year under offensive coordinator Todd Monken and second alongside three-time All-Pro running back Derrick Henry. “We have a lot of goals in terms of what we’re trying to do specifically with our offense. We’re trying to get better at 1,000 different things that apply to what we’re trying to do.

“That’s kind of an advantage of Year 3. We have a really good handle on who we are, what our guys are good at, our identity if you want to call it that.”

Jackson is of course at the nexus of that identity, and this is the time of year to refamiliarize himself with his pass catchers and introduce himself to new ones. Hopkins, a three-time All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowl selection, is the most notable among them.

 

 

There’s also new cornerback Jaire Alexander, a former college teammate of Jackson’s who signed with the Ravens earlier this offseason after his release from the Green Bay Packers.

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At one point, Jackson lofted a fade to Hopkins up the sideline, who made a nifty back shoulder grab with Alexander in tight coverage. Alexander got up and bowed in a sign of respect.

“He’s still that guy,” Jackson said of Alexander, a 28-year-old two-time All-Pro.

So is Jackson, particularly when it comes to experimenting with plays this time of year, even when it might not be the intended one.

“Coach Monk probably get on me a little bit because he be wanting me to throw the ball certain places,” Jackson said. “But I’m like sometimes in the game it might not happen the way it is in practice.

“I try everything. Sometimes coach let me get away with it, sometimes he gonna coach me.”

Their partnership has worked incredibly and historically well so far.

In 2023, Jackson set career highs in passing yards (3,678) and completion percentage (.672) and was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player after leading the Ravens to the league’s best record (13-4) and the AFC championship game. Last season, he was even better, with 4,172 passing yards, 41 touchdown passes and just four interceptions while also rushing for 915 yards and four scores.

Baltimore became the first team in history to throw for at least 4,000 yards and rush for at least 3,000, with Henry’s 1,921 the second-most in the NFL behind only the Philadelphia Eagles’ Saquon Barkley.

Yet, the Ravens believe they — and Jackson — can be even better.

“He works really hard at being better,” Harbaugh said. “That position, there’s so much that goes into playing that position and Lamar’s young.

“He’s already great. He’s not one of these guys who says I’m great, I’m there, I’ve arrived, I’m already there. He never looks at it that way. … He’s grown in every way.”

Still, at this point Jackson will only be measured by postseason success, and that has been tougher to come by.

Baltimore is just 3-5 in the playoffs with Jackson at the helm. In that span, he has thrown 10 touchdown passes but also seven interceptions. He has lost four fumbles as well.

In last season’s divisional round loss to the Bills, Baltimore had three turnovers while Buffalo had none. Two of them were by Jackson, who had an interception and a fumble.

How to fix that? “Just hold onto the football,” Jackson said.