Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens are now in unfamiliar territory, and not in a good way.
After a 26-23 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, Baltimore is now 0-2 for the first time since 2015, and by extension, the first time in the Jackson era as well. It hurts even more because this game was one the Ravens should’ve won easily, as they have the better roster on paper and had a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Once again, though, self-inflicted mistakes absolutely destroyed the Ravens down the stretch.
With the loss, Jackson joined a rather unfortunate group of great players. According to CBS Sports, Jackson is now just the fourth reigning MVP of the Super Bowl era to start 0-2. The others are Kurt Warner with the 2002 St. Louis Rams, Joe Theisman with 1984 Washington and Brian Sipe with the 1981 Cleveland Browns.
It goes without saying, but Jackson is obviously not happy with the slow start to the year.
“[We’ve] just got to find a way to win,” Jackson told reporters after Sunday’s game. Like you said, I’m not used to being 0-2. [We’ve] just got to catch our momentum and get it started right away.”
Through two games, Jackson has completed 62.7 percent of his passes for 520 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, adding 167 yards as a rusher. He hasn’t been bad, but he hasn’t been quite as sharp as he was last season. Then again, that’s at least partially due to the new pieces around him, particularly the right side of the offensive line that has yet to really gel.
Jackson and the Ravens know what they have to do to win, it’s just a matter of executing and avoiding the easy mistakes that have plagued them so often.
“Put points on the board and just finish people – just finish them,” Jackson said. “When we have the lead, just keep scoring [and] find a way to keep scoring; just keep milking the clock; keep doing what we do. Play Ravens football.”
