The Time Is Now For Lamar Jackson And The Ravens
Will Newton. Getty Images.No better time than now.
We all know the narrative. It's really the only negative one left surrounding Lamar. Guy has come in and squashed every other dumb take from old farts and flannel-wearing middle Americans by winning MVP not once… but very likely twice after a dominant 2023 season:
"He should come out as a WR or RB"
"He's one-dimensional, he can't throw"
"His game is not sustainable"
"Wait until NFL defensive coordinators figure him out"
"He can't throw outside the numbers"
"He can't throw downfield"
"He can't stay healthy"
All of that has been been obliterated by another fantastic season by Lamar where he dominated the league and got stronger as the year progressed. It leaves the elephant in the room.
"Lamar Jackson can't win in the postseason"
That's the going narrative. It's the last leg for his haters to stand on. It's also the final boss for any given young and elite QB and the more regular season success you have WITHOUT the postseason success, the exponentially bigger that narrative becomes.
There's always a posterboy for this narrative. Some break through it. Some don't. It followed Peyton Manning around for a VERY long time and he broke thru (no thanks to Steve McNair and a Ravens offense laying an egg, but I digress). Dan Marino is probably the best example of those who never do.
Lamar Jackson is likely the frontrunner for being the posterboy for the title of "guy who just can't get it done in January". We all know he's 1-3 in the postseason. I've run the excuse train on those 3 losses for years.
2018 - Rookie year should hardly count, he took over a Joe Flacco offense mid-year and was working out of a makeshift playbook.
2019 - Perfect storm loss where he accounted for 500 yards of offense despite his receivers dropping passes left and right.
2020 - he got a win under his belt in Nashville despite his OL being decimated, and then lost in a freakishly windy game in Buffalo where his center snapped a ball over his head and he got concussed.
But there are plays along the way by Lamar that were incredibly costly and certainly feed into the narrative.
That's the thing about narratives. Narratives care about appearances far more than they do facts. But facts do matter and facts help create appearances.
Fact of the matter is that Lamar Jackson simply hasn't married his regular season success to his postseason success. That's simply fact. It's inarguable.
This is the golden opportunity for that narrative to be reversed. The stars have aligned.
They're pretty dang healthy, which is not something they've been able to say most years.
They've earned homefield on the back of that regular season success along with a top tier defense that was built for this kind of football.
The schedule has worked out beautifully where the two other perceived major threats in the AFC are fighting to the death tomorrow and the Ravens are playing an AFC South team that the Ravens should beat comfortably on paper.
But we've seen that story before. And it didn't go our way. Regardless of how great Lamar might play today, if the result has the Ravens on the wrong side of the score… that narrative will reach critical mass.
There is no better time than now. The Ravens are going to be good for a very long time thanks to Lamar Jackson, but this is probably the highest percentage shot he's going to get at winning the big one. You can't guarantee health from year to year. The Bills and Chiefs are wounded and played with their food all year. The roster is littered with pending free agents and there will surely be key departures.
The time to strike is now.
I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm fired up. I'm terrified.
All I know is I can't wait to freeze my tits off at The Bank today, lose my voice, and watch it all unfold.
Let's get this thing done. Let's get an AFC Championship game to Baltimore, which is something that's long overdue for The Bank.
Let's fucking go Lamar Jackson. Let's go write a new narrative.
