Star quarterback Lamar Jackson won his second Most Valuable Player Award winner in February but continues to face questions regarding his ability to guide his Baltimore Ravens where they want to go coming off their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in this year’s AFC Championship Game.
Jackson delivered quite a message to critics during a recent conversation with Adam Schein of SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio, as shared by Andrew Battifarano of the New York Post.
“I’m motivating myself because I know what I want to do at the end of the day,” Jackson told Schein. “Those guys have their time. I really don’t care what the criticism is, what the critics say because, at the end of the day, I just came off an injury the year before and we made it all the way to the AFC [Championship Game] in the new system. It’s nothing to be down on myself, my teammates or anything like that because we made it far.”
The 2023 Ravens entered the playoffs as the AFC’s No. 1 seed with a record of 13-4, and Baltimore then thrashed the Houston Texans 34-10 in the divisional round. However, the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs marched into Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium and earned a 17-10 victory in the conference title clash that dropped Jackson’s career playoff record to 2-4.
That was Jackson’s first trip to an AFC championship.
Former New England Patriots wide receiver and current Fox NFL analyst Julian Edelman recently generated some headlines when he said that Jackson has “been on a milk carton” and gone “missing” when the Ravens have needed him most. Jackson indicated during his chat with Schein that he needs no additional bulletin board material after Baltimore scored only 10 points against Kansas City this past January.
“We criticize ourselves more than anyone else,” Jackson added. “What people say on the outside, that’s just their take — and they can believe what they want to believe.”
As of Wednesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Ravens second among the betting favorites behind the Chiefs (+300) at +550 odds to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LIX. Jackson and Co. will look to make a statement when Baltimore opens the upcoming season at Kansas City on Thursday, Sept. 5.
