Although it hasn’t come exclusively from Pittsburgh Steelers fans, it does seem a disproportionate amount of the criticism of Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson does come from our quarters. Specifically, many of us still opt to continue to believe that he’s not truly an elite quarterback and because of that he is not equipped to win in the postseason.
Well, after missing out on the chance for the past two years, he seems to be back on track. With one meaningless game left to play, he is healthy and has his Ravens locked into the number one seed. Only the Pittsburgh Steelers stand in their way. At least for the time being, Baltimore is acting as though it’s not yet decided if he will play in that game.
“I’m sure I’ll talk to Lamar, and I’m sure he’s going to want to play”, head coach John Harbaugh said after the game, via the team’s website. “But, we’re going to have to talk about that and decide what we want to do. You can only take six players out of the equation. There’s going to be injuries anyway, so it’s not like the preseason. You’re playing your team except for whoever you end up taking out. We’re going to have to have the conversation. We have not made any decision there yet”.
It seems to stretch plausibility, however, that they would even give any serious consideration toward risking him. Not after the last two seasons ending with injuries that prevented him from playing and sabotaging their season. Not after paying him what they have. Not after their near misses for the past three years, the what-could-have-beens.
Jackson, now likely having firmly locked up his second Most Valuable Player Award, is far too valuable for the Ravens to consider playing. And they’ve already shown their thinking when they sat him out in the finale against the Steelers in 2019. A Robert Griffin III-led Ravens team crushed Devlin Hodges and the Steelers 28-10 and ended Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes, having already secured a 13-win season for themselves and the number one seed.
If they sat Jackson four years ago when he was 22 years old, who seriously think they would consider doing otherwise at 26 with two major injuries in between that completely derailed their seasons? Nothing that could be gained by playing him in a meaningless game could possibly outweigh the value of having him on the field and healthy for the first snap of the Divisional Round.
Assuming his season is indeed over, he will have finished his 2023 campaign going 307-for-457, throwing for 3,678 yards with 24 touchdown passes (five of which came yesterday) to just seven interceptions. He has rushed for 821 yards with five touchdowns.
And most importantly, he has led the Ravens to a 13-3 record, two better than any other team in the conference. Indeed, the only team in the league within one game of them is the San Francisco 49ers. The Miami Dolphins were before he trounced them yesterday. A week after he trounced the 49ers. Oh yeah, he’s beaten the top teams, as well. Does it matter if he has “only” 24 touchdown passes when he operates a top-five scoring offense with 24 rushing touchdowns to its credit?
