KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As he awaited his turn to fulfill his postgame media obligations late Thursday night, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson slouched in a folding chair down the hall from the visiting locker room at Arrowhead Stadium.
While tight end Isaiah Likely answered questions about the final play of the Ravens’ 27-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Jackson’s mind seemed elsewhere. His eyes scanned the floor. His teammates and coaches say that Jackson has a photographic memory, In this case, Jackson almost certainly wasn’t thinking too far back.
“We just have to do what we have to do to win those games,” Jackson lamented later.
For much of the night, Jackson courageously did his part, limiting mistakes, hurting the Chiefs with both his legs and his arm, fighting for every inch and playing steadily as other areas of the Ravens’ game broke down on both sides of the ball. It was impossible to ignore just how badly Jackson wanted this game.
Had he made one more clutch throw and had the Ravens been able to tack on the two-point conversion — and coach John Harbaugh was unsurprisingly all-in on going for the win in the final seconds — the biggest storyline from the NFL’s thrilling regular-season opener would have surely been how a gutty Jackson outdueled the great Patrick Mahomes on his home field.
Instead, after the shock over the game’s ending had dissipated, there was just as much, if not more, discussion about the plays that Jackson did not make than the ones that he did. And there was a ton of the latter as Jackson racked up 395 yards of total offense, averaged 7.6 yards per rushing attempt and threw a touchdown pass.
GO DEEPER
It came down to Isaiah Likely’s toe because the Ravens kept shooting themselves in foot
In many ways, it was a microcosm of the Jackson experience with the quarterback wowing observers with moments of brilliance, earning their respect with his unrelenting competitive drive and yet leaving them with questions about why he was unable to finish the job.
Those questions emanated from a two-play sequence after Jackson connected with Rashod Bateman on a beautiful 38-yard throw-and-catch to give the Ravens a first-and-goal from the Chiefs 10-yard line with just under 20 seconds to play. The Ravens were 10 yards away from setting up a game-deciding two-point conversion from the 2-yard line.
On first down, Likely, who was Jackson’s go-to target all night, had a step on a Chiefs defender as he streaked across the back of the end zone. Jackson seemed to spot him late and then his throw was too high and wide for the tight end to have a realistic chance to make the play.
There were 10 seconds left when Jackson took the snap on second down. Out of the corner of his eye, Jackson saw Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones, one of the NFL’s most dominant defensive players, being man-blocked on the edge by Ravens 195-pound running back Justice Hill. He knew he had to get out of trouble. He stepped forward and then to his right and his intention was to hit Bateman who he thought was going to stop in the middle of the end zone. At the last moment, Jackson saw Zay Flowers wide open in the back of the end zone. His rushed throw lacked conviction and wasn’t particularly close to either Bateman or Flowers.
“When I threw the ball, I was like, ‘Damn.’ (Stuff) happens.”
As ESPN analyst and former NFL safety Ryan Clark said Friday, “You can’t beat that dude (Mahomes) and that team if you don’t make that throw.”
Jackson’s final throw was one of his best all night as he threaded a pass over Drue Tranquill and Nick Bolton to Likely in the back of the end zone. Likely came down with it, but his right toe also came down out of bounds, ending the game and the Ravens’ comeback attempt. The reality was that the Ravens’ best chances to win the two games were on the two previous plays.
The Ravens were THIS CLOSE to scoring the game-tying touchdown 👀#Kickoff2024 pic.twitter.com/08KjTVFHQZ
— NFL (@NFL) September 6, 2024
“We tried to put a drive together,” Bateman said. “We didn’t execute, so we have to go back to the drawing board and see how we can finish strong. We came up short. They beat us.”
It shouldn’t need to be said that Jackson wasn’t the reason that the Ravens lost Thursday, but given what a lightning rod the quarterback is, that narrative is probably out there somewhere. Jackson was the biggest reason the Ravens even had a chance to win down the stretch despite facing 10-point deficits in the third and fourth quarters.
He completed 26-of-41 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown. He rushed for 122 yards on 16 carries. He did a nice job deciphering and handling the Chiefs’ pressure, the only ball-handling blemish coming when he was strip-sacked by Jones in the second quarter deep in Baltimore territory.
Otherwise, he seemingly handled the additional pre-snap responsibility given to him this season well. He looked in control of the huddle and his emotions on a big stage. With the inexperienced offensive line struggling at times and getting flagged early and often to put Baltimore behind the sticks, Jackson repeatedly got the Ravens out of trouble with his legs. His 16 carries were his most since November of the 2021 season. Many of those runs were on scrambles.
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“He showed you what type of player he is,” Likely said. “The two-time MVP doesn’t back down to nobody, no matter where we are, no matter whose environment we’re in, who we’re going up against. He’s going to show you who he is every snap, every play, whether it’s running or passing. He shows you that he’s Lamar Jackson.”
Jackson may have been at his best in the Ravens’ final possession before the two end zone misses marred everything he did to put Baltimore in that position. Needing a touchdown to either tie the game or win, the Ravens took over the ball at their own 13-yard line with one minute, 50 seconds remaining. The Ravens had no timeouts.
Jackson was unfazed and didn’t force the issue. He hit Likely for 8 yards along the sideline. He then ran for 9 yards before ducking out of bounds. He overthrew Bateman on a deep shot on first down, but then found Likely again for an easy 8 and picked up the first down on third-and-2 with a scramble. The Ravens had moved the ball 28 yards in 39 seconds.
“We do that a lot throughout practice, just going two-minute drill, just going fast, keep our wind and just go,” Jackson said.
Lamar keeps the @Ravens drive alive
📺: #Kickoff2024 on NBC/Peacock
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/JzTSnEAv1F— NFL (@NFL) September 6, 2024
Jackson improved to 4-of-5 on the drive with a 7yard completion to Hill and a 4-yard pass to Likely that put the ball just before midfield 43 seconds remaining. That’s when he finally took the downfield shot to Bateman to set up the final three-play sequence. Afterward, Jackson focused on the positives.
“The whole game gives me encouragement, because I believe our guys were fighting,” Jackson said. “Unfortunately, every time we had an explosive (play), we had a penalty right after that, so it’s hard to get in the groove. Our offense battled, and we battled through the third and fourth quarter. Unfortunately, these ugly games, we have to overcome them, and I feel like we did a great job with that.”
GO DEEPER
Jones: Gap between Chiefs and Ravens is bigger than toe that decided game
The Ravens are obviously going to need their star quarterback to make those clutch throws late in games if they’re going to get where they want to go. They also are going to need to give Jackson more help. Some of their better offensive plays Thursday were the result of Jackson’s super improvisational skills. Trying to avenge a loss to Mahomes and the Chiefs in the AFC championship game roughly seven months early, Jackson clearly took things upon himself at different points of Thursday’s game.
Offensive coordinator Todd Monken will need to find ways to get Jackson some easy completions and get him playing on schedule more. Derrick Henry, who had 13 touches against the Chiefs, has to be more involved. Likely’s emergence certainly is a big-time positive, but the Ravens will have to make sure that Zay Flowers has more opportunities for big plays and Bateman and fellow tight end Mark Andrews remain threats, too.
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There were enough good things that happened Thursday offensively to maintain some optimism about the offense’s future. There just weren’t enough to win a game against a high-quality opponent. Nobody took that any harder than Jackson, who had three opportunities to rewrite a different ending, only to see the game follow a similar frustrating script.
“Lamar is Lamar,” Henry said. “Just like everybody else, he’s going to do him and make plays and put us in a position to win.”
(Photo: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)
