09-05-2021 Ravens Preview - Flipbook - Page 3
NFL2021
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COVER STORY RAVENS
The 100-yard stare
Lamar Jackson doesn’t feel ‘accomplished’ yet. He and his critics know there’s one thing missing.
T
By Childs Walker
he last time we saw Lamar
Jackson in uniform for the
2020 season, he walked
through a tunnel inside
Buffalo’s Highmark
Stadium with his head
down and a medical attendant’s guiding
hand on his back.
Moments earlier, the back of Jackson’s
head had cracked into the turf after two
Bills defenders chased him into the end
zone. Another errant snap had prompted
his desperate retreat, and the resulting
concussion ended his season a quarter
early. The Ravens trailed 17-3. Their quarterback’s final statistical line — 196 total
yards, an interception, three sacks, no
touchdowns — spoke to another dispiriting playoff failure.
This was not the way Jackson saw his
story going. He had entered the season
as the league’s reigning Most Valuable
Player and No. 1 star, according to the NFL
Network’s annual poll of players. He only
needed a Super Bowl ring to top off his
remarkable ascent, and he fully intended to
win it, the Kansas City Chiefs, Tom Brady
and COVID-19 be darned. Instead, he was
back on the brink as he walked down that
tunnel in Buffalo in January, knowing he
would endure another offseason chorused
by critics who’d question his ability to win
the big one.
This is Jackson’s burden as he
approaches his fourth NFL season. At age
24, he already has the Heisman Trophy, the
MVP award and a highlight reel most players in league history would kill for. But he
has said over and over that without a Super
Bowl, all of it will ring hollow. So he spends
his days judging himself and being judged
by the unforgiving standard he established.
His three playoff losses live on in his mind,
leaving him “ticked off” months and years
later.
Every week, it seems, another analyst
pulls out his knife to dissect Jackson’s
flaws. Recently, it was ESPN’s Jeremy
Fowler reporting that his sources around
the league “say this might be the year
that everybody figures out Lamar Jackson.” Never mind that Fowler’s colleague,
former NFL safety Ryan Clark, contorted
his face in disbelief at this notion.
Jackson’s ranking in the NFL Network
poll slipped to No. 24. He did not make Pro
Football Focus’ top 50 list, with analyst Sam
Monson writing that he was “a cautionary
tale about expecting someone to develop
onward and upward each year.”
Turn to Jackson, Page 4
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