Lamar Jackson, Ravens throttle Texans to reach AFC Championship game
Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz reacts to Baltimore’s 34-10 win over Houston and discusses how Lamar Jackson answered his playoff doubters.
Video Transcript
JASON FITZ: We can officially bring an end to the playoff-Lamar Jackson conversations because, presumably, this year's MVP looked every bit of an MVP as the Ravens thrashed the Texans 34 to 10 in Baltimore. Now, we weren't sure if Rust would be an issue for Baltimore. Let's be fair. They didn't play a lot of starters, week 18. They got a one week bye. So there had been a long layoff. And in the first half, maybe it looked like it. In fact, this game was 10-10 at the half. And the first half storyline was all about the defense. Both teams were able to get after the quarterbacks and affect the quarterbacks. It felt like the quarterbacks from both teams were spending more time running backwards to avoid the rushers than they were moving forward.
But in the second half, much different story. The Ravens were able to score touchdowns on three consecutive drives and blow this thing wide open. How open? Well, Lamar will tell you as he had 16 to 22 in the air for 2 touchdowns. Oh, and not to be outdone, also ran for 100 yards with 2 more touchdowns on the ground. That's right, 4 touchdowns for Lamar Jackson in this game. In fact, talking about rushing the ball, the Ravens ran for over 200 yards in a dominating effort.
On the other side of this, the Ravens defense equally dominating as CJ Stroud, for the first time through this process, looked human. He looked like a rookie trying to adjust to the level of pressure he was seeing. And let's not get it twisted. The one touchdown that the Texans scored had nothing to do with their offense, it came by way of a punt return.
This was a thorough domination by Baltimore. And this is a thorough reminder to all of us, not just how great Lamar Jackson is, we already know that, but also how incredible the Ravens are. There's a reason they're the number one seed in the AFC. And they proved it with this absolute domination in a win.