The Baltimore Ravens have the luxury of a bye week given their No. 1 seeding in the AFC, while the other 12 teams in the NFL playoffs duke it out on Super Wild Card Weekend. However, that luxury hasn't always gone their way. In fact, the playoffs, in general, haven't gone the Ravens' way over the last few seasons, despite having their star quarterback, Lamar Jackson.

Is Lamar Jackson the solution… and the problem?

Jackson has been overcoming the odds since he arrived in the league, including the stigma of being a dual-threat quarterback coming out of Louisville that many said wouldn't work in the NFL. But all Jackson has done is win one MVP with another one likely this season and got the Ravens to the playoffs in all but every year since his arrival. The problem is, the Ravens have been bounced out early, within the first game, whether Wild Card or Division round, in all but one of those seasons, leaving Jackson with a 1-3 record.

The onus could be put back on Jackson once again, with the Ravens' lack of a playoff appearance thanks to a regular-season collapse in 2021 along with their first-round Wild Card exit to the Cincinnati Bengals in 2022. Jackson was hurt in December in both of those, causing the Ravens to go to their backup quarterback. Jackson's one lone win is over the Tennessee Titans in the 2020 Wild Card round, but then they lost to the Buffalo Bills in the next game, 17-3.

But this is the 2023 season where the Ravens (13-4) could find themselves back in at least the AFC Championship Game, their first in 11 years. Or, they could find themselves back in the Super Bowl, which was also 11 years ago. Or, if they're not careful, they could find themselves making the same mistakes as in years past and failing to make progress in the playoffs.

The Ravens need to hold onto the ball

Lamar Jackson fumbling

Going back to Jackson's arrival in 2018, in the Ravens' four playoff losses, they have been held to under 20 points in each. But a big reason for that is their unfortunate knack for making turnovers. In those four games, they've lost the turnover margin against their opponents, with nine giveaways, all but one of them by the quarterback, which was Jackson, except for last year when Tyler Huntley stepped in. Huntley had an interception and lost fumble in last year's meeting with the Bengals.

As good as this Ravens team was this season, their flaw was yet again giving the ball away, or sometimes not even catching it at all. In their three losses prior to their season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers where Jackson and others sat out, the Ravens have a league-average passes drop rate of 8.7% in their losses compared to 3.8% in their victories, which is the worst in the NFL, according to ESPN.

But like their playoff woes from years past, turnovers were a problem that contributed to their losses this season, specifically fumbles where they had 23, ranking 7th most in the NFL, per StatMuse. In their 13 wins this season, they had 13 fumbles; however, in their four losses, they had 10, averaging 2.5 per game.

Week 3 against the Indianapolis Colts and Week 5 versus the Steelers stick out, where they fumbled four times in each game, two lost in each. Jackson lost one in each game. That was earlier in the season, but it is something to keep an eye on in next weekend's divisional matchup. Because as good as the Ravens have consistently been since 2018 when Jackson arrived, they have quickly faltered in the playoffs, where their offense has become non-existent mostly thanks to giveaways, with Jackson being the culprit behind a large majority of them.

Without Jackson, though, this team is not in the position that it is in. He's undoubtedly the MVP of the league this year, as his play and the Ravens' record are indicative of that. But he will once again have to prove himself and get past his playoff woes in order to get this Baltimore team to where it ultimately wants to go.