Jamison Hensley, ESPN Personnel Editor
BALTIMORE — Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was once so infuriated by way of throwing an interception finally zone within the fourth quarter that he ripped off his helmet with each fingers and slammed it to the farmland pace strolling to the sideline.
For the presumptive NFL Maximum Significance Participant, some other season stuffed with assurance ended with a thud within the postseason.
Jackson and the AFC’s top-seeded Ravens struggled to advance the ball and dedicated 3 surrenders in a 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs within the AFC Championship Recreation on Sunday. The loss drops Jackson to 2-4 within the postseason.
“I’m not frustrated at all. I’m angry about losing,” Jackson mentioned. “We are a game away from the Super Bowl. We’ve been waiting all this time, all these moments for opportunity like this and we fell short. But I feel like our team, we going to build this offseason, going to get right, get better grind and try to be in this position again — but on the other side of victory.”
Jackson had seemed just about unstoppable coming into the primary house AFC Championship Recreation within the Ravens’ 28-year lifestyles. In successful his closing seven begins (together with closing occasion’s divisional victory), Jackson had Baltimore averaging 33.9 issues according to sport.,
Upcoming, in Jackson’s first convention championship sport look, Jackson didn’t resemble the sport’s summit participant and the Ravens fix a season-low in issues scored. Baltimore become the primary crew in two decades to lose a convention championship sport when maintaining the opponent to 17 issues or much less.
“We’re mad,” Jackson mentioned. “Offense, we didn’t put nothing on the board. We scored once. That’s not like us. We drove the ball down the field. That’s cool. But we got to put points on the board. But I feel like my team just angry, not frustrated, we just angry. We know how hard we worked to get here.”
Jackson is the making a bet favourite to win his 2d NFL MVP then generating profession highs with 3,678 yards passing and a 67.2% finishing touch charge. The Ravens had been thought to be essentially the most dominant crew within the NFL this season by way of going 6-0 towards crew that entered the sport no less than 3 video games over .500 and beating them by way of a mean of 26.2 issues.
However, on Sunday, Jackson reverted again to his errors in earlier postseasons. In his 4 playoff losses, he has now averaged 10.5 issues, totaling 4 touchdowns and 8 surrenders.
“There’s certain moments that define you, and this is just one that’ll be in his career,” Ravens huge receiver Odell Beckham Jr. mentioned. “The greats have all been through tough times and I don’t think this is going to stop him from wanting to get to his ultimate goal. If anything, he’s going to work even harder.”
Beckham added, “He wants it bad. I had never seen somebody so locked in and just in the flow and in that era, I just felt like it was his time. And like I say, sometimes things happen in life and it doesn’t go the way that we planned and it’s just about what do you do from here.”
Jackson struggled to increase drives. On 3rd downs, he was once 1-of-6 for seven yards with two sacks. Jackson additionally had issues of the Chiefs’ move scurry; he finished a season-low 41% of his passes towards the blitz.
“I told him to stand up tall,” Ravens schoolmaster John Harbaugh mentioned. “He’s had a great season, his performance today was all heart. He fought, he went out there and gave everything he had. So I don’t think that’s anything that I’d be disappointed in.”
Jackson has been fixated about prominent the Ravens to a championship for years. When he was once drafted by way of Baltimore in 2018, he mentioned, “They’re going to get a Super Bowl out of me. Believe that.”
However, regardless of prominent Baltimore to the playoffs in 4 seasons together with two Deny. 1 seeds, Jackson has now not been in a position to travel the Ravens to a Tremendous Bowl.
“Honestly, what hurts me the most is that I wanted to get him the recognition that he deserves,” Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen mentioned. “It’s a team sport, but that guy was the main guy I was playing for, honestly. This was his opportunity to be able to write some of that stuff off and move on to the next thing.
“That’s why it hurts, as a result of you wish to have to peer population like that, teammates that you just love and aid about, get what they’re meant to get, and that didn’t occur these days.”
