Pressure on Lamar Jackson to rise up in playoffs
Ravens QB Lamar Jackson won the NFL MVP in 2019, but was upset by the Titans in the playoffs. Will Lamar take another step up in 2020? Mike Florio and Peter King discuss.
Video Transcript
MIKE FLORIO: "PFT OT" on Yahoo Sports-- Peter King, Mike Florio with all the big stories happening in the National Football League. And, look, the 2018 NFL MVP got his payoff a year later with the Super Bowl MVP. Lamar Jackson, the 2019 NFL MVP, would like that same outcome this year. It's always better to be the Super Bowl MVP than the regular season MVP. Can Lamar Jackson find that higher level that will carry the Ravens just beyond a great regular season and into a great postseason as well, Peter?
PETER KING: Yeah. I mean, Mike, I wrote my column this week that I am not ready to-- just because Lamar Jackson has had two lousy playoff games two consecutive years at home-- and I'm just not ready to say that, oh, he can't be a great January, February quarterback at all. I think he makes a comeback this year, and he makes a comeback in part because, as good as his running game was last year-- it was the best running game in football-- I think they're going to be even a notch better this year after adding JK Dobbins.
And I think that the offense is going to be less on his shoulders so that let's just say you get behind by 10 in the second quarter of a playoff game-- OK, now they're not going to feel-- Greg Roman the offensive coordinator is not going to feel that, OK, we're going to-- we're throwing 90% of the time the rest of the day. Just stay with what got you there.
And I think what's going to get them there is not only the legs and the electric arm of Lamar Jackson, but I think JK Dobbins and Mark Ingram by the end of this year, with all due respect to the other great running tandems in football, I think this one is going to be the best.
MIKE FLORIO: I think one of the real tests for the Ravens this year, it's something that Bill Belichick has perfected, and I think it's going to be a huge challenge for John Harbaugh-- get your team to forget completely about what happened last year. Forget that you were 14-2. Forget that you won 12 games in a row. Forget that you were the number one-seed. Because if they have any difficulty out of the gates, that's going to haunt them. That's going to loom. That's going to hover.
And they've got to forget about it. They've got to treat this like a new season, ignore what they did last year, and try to build and build and build. And then when they get to January, they have to forget those other two playoff games-- how it felt. They need to remember how it felt to lose. But you know, Peter, this is starting to remind me of the Bengals, where every time the Bengals would get back to the playoffs, the narrative gets stronger, the questions become more frequent, and the frustration can build.
They've got to get this past them. They've got to get to January and win a playoff game, or who knows how many years-- it almost is like a Barry Bonds thing for Lamar Jackson where every year it gets worse and worse and the pressure gets greater and greater. And this year, they desperately need to win in the postseason.
PETER KING: No question about it. It renders whatever you do in the regular season meaningless if you lose-- if the Ravens lose their first playoff game this year. I don't care if they go 16-0 in the regular season-- renders it meaningless. And to my way of thinking, Mike, the most important thing for them to remember this year is, you know, don't put everything on Lamar Jackson, OK?
You don't need to. You don't have to. Your defense is going to be better. Calais Campbell makes that front better. It just does. The secondary is really good. This-- if these guys had gotten Jadeveon Clowney, it would have been crazy. But this is a team right now that doesn't have to have a bunch of 380-yard passing days from the quarterback to win.
He just has to be a cog in the wheel-- maybe the best cog in the wheel, but he's got to be a cog in the wheel. Don't go putting everything on this guy's shoulders. You don't have to.
MIKE FLORIO: And this is the best news for teams like the Ravens, teams like the Texans, teams like the Chiefs and the Cardinals-- some of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL don't have much experience. As they get more experience, as they see more defenses, as they run through more plays, they're going to get better and better. And that's what the Ravens have to look forward to with Lamar Jackson. He's just getting started. We're getting finished, though. We'll have "PFT OT" on Yahoo Videos for you all season long. He's Peter King, I'm Mike Florio, and we'll see you here next time.
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