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Jamison Hensley, ESPN writer
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Earlier this season, Baltimore Ravens quarterbacks coach Tee Martin played a clip of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes in last season’s AFC Championship Game for Lamar Jackson and his teammates.
“Composure, composure, composure,” Mahomes shouted in the huddle during the fourth quarter. “I want everyone to finish, but I want composure.”
Martin’s message to Jackson? Champion teams are emotionally and mentally prepared to win the most difficult games.
Jackson has won as many NFL MVP awards as he has postseason games: two. In a year in which he put up his best statistical numbers (becoming the first player to produce more than 4,000 passing yards and 900 rushing yards in a season), Jackson faces a distinction that illustrates his dominance in the regular season and his disappointment in the playoffs: He is the only multiple NFL MVPs who have not won a Super Bowl, much less reached one.
Helping Jackson overcome its playoff struggles and advance to the Super Bowl has become the franchise’s most pressing priority. Since 2018 and among quarterbacks with at least five starts, Jackson has the NFL’s fourth-best regular-season record at 70-24 (.745), but is tied for the worst postseason mark at 2-4 (. 333). In the playoffs, Jackson has produced as many turnovers (6 interceptions, 3 lost fumbles) as touchdowns (9).
When Baltimore hosts the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC wild card game on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, Prime Video), the Ravens will find out if Jackson has learned how to lean on an improved supporting cast, avoid unusual mistakes and use his past experience. in postseason to Focus on your ultimate goal.
“I’d be too excited,” Jackson said, remembering what his past postseasons have taught him. “That’s it. Too anxious. I’m seeing things before they happen, like, ‘Oh, I have to calm down.’ But having more experience, I found a way to balance it.”
When asked what Jackson’s mentality will be in the playoffs, tight end Mark Andrews said: “Locked in. Completely locked in.”
The Ravens have tried to reduce the pressure on Jackson by improving the players around him. In the last three drafts, Jackson has seen Baltimore bolster the offensive line by adding Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum and rookie starting right tackle Roger Rosengarten. Jackson has his first Pro Bowl wide receiver in Zay Flowers, but the receiver’s availability is in question after he injured his right knee in the regular season finale.
Baltimore’s biggest addition came when it signed free agent running back Derrick Henry, whose 1,921 rushing yards are the 11th most in a single season in NFL history. His powerful presence, especially late in games, was intended to strike fear into defenses and provide some relief to Jackson.
“Now,” said Hall of Fame defensive back Rod Woodson, the Ravens’ radio analyst, “Lamar doesn’t have to be Superman.”
THERE IS ONLY ONE Playoff game Jackson still thinks about: Last season’s AFC championship, a 17-10 loss to the Chiefs.
“It was right there,” Jackson said, alluding to reaching the Super Bowl. “But now I’m focused on my mind. It is what it is right now.”
In that game, Jackson’s biggest mistake was unusual.
With the Chiefs leading 17-7 in the fourth quarter, Jackson moved Baltimore to the Kansas City 25-yard line before launching a risky throw to tight end Isaiah Likely, who was a step behind a crowd of defenders. When the failed pass reached the end zone, Likely was surrounded by three Chiefs players and Jackson’s throw was intercepted.
“In the past few years, I think he’s pushed, he’s tried to make plays in the postseason,” Woodson said. “And normally in any sport, when you try to make plays, they usually don’t come. You let them come to you.”
Jackson has averaged a turnover every 82 plays in the regular season. In the playoffs? One turnover every 45 plays.
In Baltimore’s 2020 divisional round loss to the Buffalo Bills, Jackson threw a pick-six on a 101-yard return from cornerback Taron Johnson. He has only thrown one other pick-six in his career and it was after a deflected pass against the Cleveland Browns in 2023.
“You have to try not to make mistakes,” Jackson said. “The game is won by battling turnovers and maintaining control of the ball, moving it down the field, getting first downs… Obviously, that’s how you win those games.”
Jackson’s turnaround from the regular season to the postseason is one of the most dramatic in the league. His QBR from the regular season (67.4) to the postseason (53.2) is a 14.2-point drop, the second-highest among quarterbacks since 2006, behind only Carolina Panthers veteran Andy Dalton, according to ESPN Research.
In Jackson’s first playoff game, in the 2018 wild card round, he fumbled three times against the Los Angeles Chargers. In the 2019 divisional round, he had two interceptions against the Tennessee Titans. Both games were losses.
“When [Lamar is] At his best, he plays free,” Linderbaum said. “So I don’t think he needs to have pressure or feel any pressure. “I think he’s at his best when he’s having fun, and our job is to try to get him into that state of mind.”
JACKSON HIGHLIGHTS The plays have made him and the Ravens must-watch TV. The reigning NFL MVP has played a near-perfect regular season by eliminating mistakes.
He has thrown four interceptions in 2024, three of them coming off the hands of his receiver and the other when a receiver did not complete his route. In his previous MVP seasons, Jackson threw six interceptions in 2019 and seven in 2023.
“His mind is on another level,” Martin said. “What you see, what you think, what you anticipate and how you act on it is a year of progress.”
Jackson is the first player in NFL history to produce more than 40 touchdown passes (41) and fewer than five interceptions (4) in a season.
“In every game, his will, his fight, he seeks perfection,” Andrews said. “His willingness to win games and be ready, be him, be Lamar and even elevate that week after week is really incredible.”
Backup quarterback Josh Johnson believes Jackson has limited his mistakes by taking over the offense and getting everyone on the same page.
“Lamar’s conscience isn’t talked about enough,” Johnson said. “The ability that God gave him allows him to do things that most people can only dream of. And that’s why a lot of people think he’s improvising, but a lot of times he’s not.”
On Saturday, Jackson faces his biggest postseason challenge in the Steelers, a team that has historically forced him into mistakes. They are the only team against whom Jackson has thrown more interceptions (9) than touchdowns (8).
Jackson, who is 2-4 against Pittsburgh, had his best game against them in last month’s 34-17 win, throwing for 207 yards and three touchdowns. Despite this, he could not celebrate. His final interception of the season came against them in the fourth quarter after a miscommunication with wide receiver Rashod Bateman, who cut him off.
“I was angry until the game was over,” Jackson said. “I’m lying, I’m still angry. The game [is] finished, I’m still hot.”
When the Ravens captured the AFC North title for the second straight season in Week 18, Jackson didn’t wear the celebratory hat and jersey like many of his teammates. Inside the locker room, he wasn’t happy with the last trip because of what Ravens coach John Harbaugh called “some personal challenges.”
“This guy is a competitor,” Harbaugh said. “He’s a fighter. He’s one of a kind. There’s no one like Lamar Jackson.”
ON JACKSON’S SEVENTH season, reaching a Super Bowl is the last box to check. But that’s how it was for a lot of quarterbacks.
Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre didn’t reach their first Super Bowl until they were 27 years old. Jackson turned 28 on Tuesday.
It took Peyton Manning and Drew Brees until they were 30 and into their ninth seasons to advance to their first Super Bowls. Manning had won two NFL MVP awards before reaching his first Super Bowl.
“Experience counts in a lot of situations, and he has a lot of playoff experience now,” said Marty Mornhinweg, Jackson’s first offensive coordinator with Baltimore. “Playoff games are different than regular-season games. So he’s had that experience. And I would expect Lamar and the Baltimore Ravens to win a couple of Super Bowls in the near future.”
Before the start of this season, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta noticed an “urgency” in Jackson. DeCosta said Jackson was in tune with his teammates and coaches in practice.
“I can really get the feeling that this guy is very focused on this season and really working to get a ring,” DeCosta said in August.
At the start of training camp, Jackson recalled what he said when Baltimore selected him with the last pick of the first round of the 2018 draft: “They’re going to get a Super Bowl out of me. Believe it.”
“I said that, and I meant it,” Jackson said. “This is the highest level of the game we play. You have to come out as a champion, and that’s what I want to be labeled: a champion. [I don’t] I just want to be tagged MVP here and there. “I want to be champion.”
