For as much as Lamar Jackson’s career has taken off in the last 365 days, it’s not hard to remember a time where things couldn’t go right.
A year ago this past Monday, Jackson led the Ravens into a home Wild Card game against the Chargers, a team they’d beaten two weeks prior. Jackson was the youngest quarterback to ever start a playoff game and was 6-1 as a starting quarterback prior to that day.
And the Chargers beat Jackson and the Ravens’ offense every which way for about 50 minutes.
The Ravens lost, 23-17, but the final score painted a much prettier picture than the final stats. Jackson, at one point in the fourth quarter, was 3-of-10 with 25 yards passing and an interception. His quarterback rating at that time was zero.
With that game fresh in mind in present-day, Jackson is set out to redeem the ugliest outing of his career.
“Can't start too late,” Jackson said of what he learned from that day. “You have to attack fast. It doesn't really matter what quarter it is. First or second (quarter), you have to attack. You just have to finish the game strong. You can't just go into the game playing half-assed. You'll have the same results.”
Jackson finished the day 14-of-29 passing for 194 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He fumbled three times, and lost one, and added 54 yards rushing on nine carries.
The rest of the offense, too, was stuck in neutral.
Gus Edwards was the team’s second-leading rusher and had just 23 yards on eight carries. The team’s leading receiver was Kenneth Dixon, who had 53 yards on three receptions — one of which went for 39 yards.
“We were very upset, just because we understood what was at stake,” Orlando Brown Jr. said. “And for the first time for a lot of us out there, first-year guys, it was just so different, just the energy of playing someone second, for the second time, playing in a playoff game at home. It was just so much that went into it, our bodies, all of that stuff. We were very disappointed and upset after that loss.”
The Ravens’ offense that day held a bevy of rookie starters, most of whom carry key roles on this year’s team.
Brown, Jackson and Mark Andrews were three of those rookies that day, one that they’d all like to forget.
“I think last year there were so many young guys on our team that it's hard to be ready for that,” Andrews said. “It's such a long year, and guys’ bodies start getting kind of worn down. There's no sense of that this year. I know everyone has the big picture in mind, but also have that narrow focus to get better each and every week.”
The Ravens did, however, make a late-game push to put some pressure on the Chargers. Two Michael Crabtree touchdowns just made the score closer than the game actually was.
The loss left the Ravens with a host of questions and doubters entering the 2019 season. So while they may not say so explicitly, it’s easy to point to that game as a turning point for the 14-2 season they’ve put together.
“We worked so hard at it during the summer and stuff like that,” Jackson said. “People were counting us out then, looking at rosters and stuff and saying what we were going to be at, predicting what we were going to do. But I just want to get better each and every day, and I know I’m a lot more confident. I’m not a rookie anymore.”
From that game arose narratives that the Ravens’ offense was much easier to play the second time around, that Jackson was easier to figure out the second go-round.
While they won’t get to quiet that narrative this week — the Titans are the only team in the AFC Playoffs the Ravens haven’t faced — they won the back-end of their rematches this season by an average of 23.3 points.
Should the Ravens win Saturday, they’ll be able to end the questions that have followed them for the last year.
“That game motivated me,” Jackson said of last year’s Wild Card game. “It’s still motivating me. I still haven’t played my second playoff game, yet. So when we get into that, when I’m in that game, after that game, then I have an answer for that. But that game is over with. We’ve been having a great year this year, and we just have to keep it going.”
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