Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is the frontrunner for the MVP award, is now 2-4 in career playoff games after a 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
This loss also continues Jackson’s streak of being winless when an opposing playoff team scores more than two touchdowns. One of his playoff wins came this year when a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback were only able to score 10 points on the vaunted Baltimore Ravens defense.
Lamar Jackson’s other playoff win came against the Ryan Tannehill-led Tennessee Titans, who only scored 13 points.
Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson’s turnovers prevented the Ravens from scoring enough points
The Baltimore Ravens defense effectively did its job against one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. The Ravens only allowed Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs to put up 17 points.
Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens offense was not able to outscore them because of turnovers. One of the turnovers, which was committed by wide receiver Zay Flowers, was not Jackson’s fault. Flowers reached for the end zone at the goal line, and Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed made one of the plays of the game.
Remember when Flowers taunted L’Jarius Sneed a couple of plays before this?
— Jacob Hester (@JacobHester18) January 28, 2024
One of the other turnovers committed by the Baltimore Ravens came when Lamar Jackson was unaware of pressure coming from his blindside, and had the ball stripped from him deep in Ravens territory.
THE CHIEFS FORCE A LAMAR JACKSON FUMBLE
pic.twitter.com/OFNQLSA7ZJ— PFF (@PFF) January 28, 2024
The other turnover in which Jackson is at fault came when he made an ill-advised throw intro triple coverage. The Ravens were running out of opportunities at this point, and they had the ball at the Chiefs’ 25-yard-line. It was only second down, and even just an incomplete pass would’ve allowed the Ravens another shot.
Lamar Jackson throwing into triple coverage..
That might be the Ravens’ season.pic.twitter.com/tBF2Gr64Yd
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) January 28, 2024
Jackson said in an article from ESPN that he wasn’t frustrated, but angry with the way the game played out.
“I’m not frustrated at all,” Jackson said. “I’m angry about losing. 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.”
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson underperformed in other playoff games
The loss to the Kansas City Chiefs marked just the second time that Jackson threw for over 200 yards in a playoff game. The one other instance came in a divisional round loss to the Titans in which Jackson threw the ball 59 times and had two interceptions.
Both of the times in which Jackson threw for over 200 yards he had a sub 55% completion rate. Jackson has only completed 60% or more of his passes in two playoff games.
One thing that can’t be ignored when it comes to Jackson’s past playoff performances is his contribution on the ground. The most recent loss against the Chiefs saw Jackson post just 54 yards on the ground. It was the third time in his career that Jackson had under 100 yards rushing in a playoff game.
In both of Jackson’s playoff victories he had at least 100 yards rushing. He also had at least 11 carries in each win. In the loss to the Chiefs, Jackson had just eight rushing attempts.
Overall, Jackson has thrown six touchdowns in the playoffs along with six interceptions. He has never been sacked less than three times in a playoff game.
The Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson may not have a defense that is this good in the future as defensive coordinator Mike McDonald interviewed for several head coaching vacancies. Jackson may have to figure out how to impact the game more and be safer with the ball to come across more playoff victories.
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