It was a disappointing afternoon for the Baltimore Ravens and their fans as they lose in their home field to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. With the loss comes more narratives about star quarterback Lamar Jackson and if he can win the “big game,” the same aspect that is questioned by sports analyst Stephen A. Smith of ESPN's First Take.
On the show, the question was posed by Molly Qerim if the “bigger story” coming out of the conference championship game is either Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes is going back to the Super Bowl or Jackson falling short. For Smith, it was an easy answer for him pertaining to the Ravens signal-caller after a rough outing.
“I think it is Lamar Jackson falling short. I hate to say it, but I believe that is the case. Mahomes is great, he's phenomenal, he's the greatest to ever, we get all of that,” Smith said. “They ended up scoring 17 points, but that doesn't speak to how effective they were when it really, really counted what him and [Travis] Kelce were doing.”
"The big story is Lamar Jackson. Ladies and gentlemen, with all due respect: It was a choke job. Let's just call it what it is."
Stephen A. Smith sounded OFF on the potential MVP after the Ravens' loss to the Chiefs in the AFC championship game 🗣pic.twitter.com/igjHwWTlan
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 29, 2024
There was a lot of people rooting for the Ravens in this game as it is normal to not want to see the same team over and over again reach the Super Bowl with the chance to win. For the Chiefs, Feb. 11 will now be the fourth time in the last five Super Bowls that they have made an appearance in.
Smith said the performance from Jackson and Ravens was a “choke job”
The Ravens seemed like a likely bet to beat the Chiefs because of how talented the team is on both sides of the ball, arguably being a better squad than the opponent, plus, they were the No. 1 seed in the AFC. As said before, it has been a narrative that Jackson can't come up big in huge postseason games and despite them making a conference championship, it seems like it will continue.
It definitely will for Smith who said on the show that the game Sunday afternoon by Jackson was a “choke job.” Baltimore only scored 10 points, seven in the first half, and only three in the final 30 minutes of play time.
“But the big story is Lamar Jackson. Ladies and gentlemen, with all due respect: It was a choke job. Let's just call it what it is. What is the definition of a choke job Shannon and D.O. [Dan Orlovsky]?,” Smith asked his co-hosts. “It's doing what you always do, what you're accustomed to doing, until the moment arrives, and then you don't. That is the epitome, that is the definition of what we're talking about here.”
A look at the quarterback's performances
In the game, Jackson threw for 272 yards with one touchdown and one interception to go along with 54 yards on the ground. The big touchdown pass to Zay Flowers came in the first quarter which tied the game at 7 after a connection from Mahomes to Kelce, but they would only score three points with 2:34 left in the whole game.
Mahomes completed 30 of his 39 pass attempts for 241 yards with a touchdown pass. The connection with Kelce was strong as he brought in 11 catches for 116 yards. They will now face the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl in a rematch from 2020 where the Chiefs won, 31-20. On the other hand, the Ravens will prepare for next season as Lamar Jackson, head coach John Harbaugh, and the rest are sure to be hungry and have a huge chip on their shoulder for next season.
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