By Alex Woodward
Wow, how much a year changes things. That was my first thought when waking up this morning after watching this weekend's Wild Card Round. At this time last year, the Ravens were fresh off an embarassing home playoff loss to the Chargers. The final score ended up being 23-17 but it might as well have been 86-7 because that's how it felt inside M&T Bank Stadium that day. Fans started booing the offense/Lamar during the second half and many were clamoring for coach Harbaugh to put Joe Flacco in the game. Instead, Harbaugh stuck by his man Jackson and let him finish the game. At halftime, Jackson was 2 for 8 for 17 yards and an interception for a 0.0 quarterback rating. He finished the game 14/29 with 192 passing yards, 2 TD's and 1 INT. It was a downright ugly game where Lamar had 3 fumbles (1 lost), he was sacked 7 times and he heard booes from his own fanbase despite leading his team to a 6-1 record to get them into the playoffs. Even still, Lamar finished the game with the same tenactiy he approaches every game with. "Nobody cares, work harder".
For weeks after the game; we discussed if Lamar's play style was sustainable, we argued over whether or not Harbaugh should have put Joe in for Lamar and people said the Chargers found the blueprint to stopping a Lamar Jackson led offense. Well, it turns out coach Harbaugh made the right decision by not only sticking with Lamar in that game but continuing to go all in on Lamar moving forward. So much has changed since that game. Joe Flacco is now willing to accept a back up job, no team has found a solution to stopping Lamar this season and it turns out the offense Greg Roman created for Lamar was sustainable for 16 games.
In 2019, Lamar set numerous franchise and NFL single season records. He lead the Ravens to their best single season record of 14-2, there first top seed in the AFC, the leagues top scoring offense and will likely become the leagues MVP. Who saw this coming? No one outside of the Ravens organization. The jump Lamar has made from year 1 to year 2 is almost unprecedented. Not only has he earned the local recognition and respect he deserves but he has also changed the perception of him nationally.
Now, Lamar and the Ravens host the Titans in the divisional round and they have a chance to host their first ever AFC Championship game in Baltimore if they can advance with a win over the Titans. On draft day, Lamar was the last player remaining in the grenroom. He heard his name called with the 32nd overall pick and had just one message for his new team, "they're going to get a Super Bowl out of me....believe that." In just his 2nd year in the league, he has a chance to get his team to that Super Bowl and new GM Eric DeCosta has made it clear the Ravens are trying to build during this championship window. The success can't just be attributed to Lamar this season. The defense has transformed midseason and the questions about lost leadership and production from Weddle, Suggs and Mosley are gone. A lot can change in a year. Last year, fans were grateful the team made the playoffs for the first time in 3 years. Before this season, there weren't Super Bowl expectations for this Ravens team but now it seems like they have to win the Super Bowl or the year has been a dissapointment. That's not how I see it. Regardless of the Ravens results in the playoffs, fans can feel confident that Baltimore is in a strong position to be perennial contenders. It's quite possible we have yet to see Lamar and the Ravens at their best.