Lamar Jackson has proven to be many things in his two-plus seasons as the Ravens' starting quarterback. He's a former Pro Bowl, All-Pro, and league MVP. He's an accurate passer, with 68 career touchdown passes against just 18 interceptions. He's the greatest running quarterback ever, better than Michael Vick and Cam Newton. He's also a winner, having won 30 of his 37 regular season starts.
For everything he's accomplished, Jackson, whose Ravens will face the Titans in Sunday's wild card playoff game, is still in pursuit of his first playoff victory. He's 0-2 in the playoffs after losing to the Chargers in the 2018 wild card round and to the Titans in last year's divisional round. Jackson's lack of playoff success was the first question posed to him during a recent media session.
"Oh, for sure," Jackson said when asked about wanting to end that narrative. "It's win or go home right now. I want to win regardless. I don't really care about what people have to say. I've only been to the playoffs twice in my young career. Other people have been in the league forever and haven't been in the playoffs at all. It is what it is. But, definitely trying to erase that narrative right there. That's No. 1 in my mind."
Jackson was extremely transparent when asked about what he learned from his two previous playoff appearances. In answering that question, Jackson also shared what he plans on doing differently this time around.
"Just focus. Focus on the task at hand," Jackson said. "When you get in there, just take your time, because things are going to happen they way they should. Don't try to make things happen right away. Just take your time.
"I feel like that's what I did a little bit throughout those games, just trying to do too much instead of just taking my time like I'm doing, driving the ball down the field and having success."
While earning a playoff bye is considered significant advantage, Jackson said that it negatively impacted his play last year. Jackson, who did not play in Baltimore's regular season finale, had three weeks between games prior to January's playoff loss to the Titans.
"I was kind of sluggish," Jackson said. "I wasn't quick off of my twitches and stuff like that. Me and my teammates having games back-to-back (heading into this postseason) feels pretty good. No bye week for us. We're going straight into it."
The Ravens are heading into the postseason as one of the NFL's hottest teams. After a 6-5 start, the Ravens finished the regular season with five consecutive victories. Jackson played MVP-caliber football over that span, throwing 11 touchdowns against just three interceptions. He also rushed for five touchdowns during that span while becoming the first quarterback in league history to rush for 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons. Baltimore's defense also elevated its play, holding four of its final five opponents to 17 points or less.
Jackson shared what has been the Ravens' key to success over the past six weeks. He is hoping to parlay that success into his first playoff victory.
"We've just got to finish," Jackson said. "That's the key for us. We've been saying that the last few weeks and that's what we've been doing. Just going into the game with the same mindset. Everyone do their part and finish, I feel we'll be fine."
