Following an MVP-worthy regular season in which he led the Ravens to a league-high 13 wins, Lamar Jackson took a moment to reflect on his arrival in Baltimore back in 2018, and how much has changed since he boldly declared he would bring a Super Bowl to the franchise the night he was drafted. Six full seasons had come and gone and Lamar was still ringless, and suddenly, the realization that he was up against the clock seemed to set in.

“It made me sit back and realize, ‘Damn, I'm getting older. I've got to get a championship now,'” Lamar told Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. “That's one of the reasons I'm stressing that I need to win it. I'm not getting any younger. It's best to win it now.”

Nine days after the publication of that story on The Athletic, the Ravens were defeated in the AFC Championship Game by the soon-to-be back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. And with that, it was now officially seven full seasons since Lamar Jackson arrived in Baltimore, and he still remains ringless.

Lamar's draft night promise back in 2018 is only part of the reason why he's the Ravens player who is under the most pressure in the 2024 NFL season. The fact that he's a quarterback, the position that carries the most weight for just about every team in the NFL, plays a role in this too. But predominantly, Jackson finds himself under pressure because as things stand right now, he's in a prestigious, yet unfortunate category all by himself:

In the Super Bowl era, nine quarterbacks have won at least two regular season MVP Awards — Peyton Manning (five times), Aaron Rodgers (four times), Tom Brady and Brett Favre (three times), Joe Montana, Steve Young, Kurt Warner, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson (two times). The only one of those nine quarterbacks who doesn't have a Super Bowl appearance on his resume is Lamar Jackson. Shoot, until last year, Lamar hadn't yet played in the AFC Championship Game.

Now you could easily make the case that Lamar Jackson is only 27-years-old and still has a tremendously bright future ahead of him. The Ravens have been a pillar of stability for decades, and have managed to construct a championship-caliber roster around their two-time MVP. There's no argument to be made against that. But the Ravens have already squandered numerous postseason opportunities when they entered the Playoffs as one of the betting favorites, and both the eye-test and the numbers indicate that Lamar Jackson has underperformed in each of those short postseason runs.

Lamar Jackson's career in the regular season: 184.7 passing yards per game, 61.1 rushing yards per game, 98.0 passer rating, 64.5% completion, 5.9% touchdown percentage, 2.1% interception percentage, .753 winning percentage

Lamar Jackson's career in the postseason: 220.7 passing yards per game, 86.8 rushing yards per game, 75.7 passer rating, 57.4% completion, 3.1% touchdown percentage, 3.1% interception percentage, .333 winning percentage

So Lamar accounts for substantially more total yards per game in the Playoffs than he has in the regular season, but his passer rating, completion percentage, touchdown percentage, interception percentage and winning percentage all worsen pretty significantly in do or die spots. Compare that to another two-time MVP, and you'll see that you ideally want this trending the opposite direction.

Patrick Mahomes' career in the regular season: 296.1 passing yards per game, 20.2 rushing yards per game, 103.5 passer rating, 66.5% completion, 6.1% touchdown percentage, 1.8% interception, .771 winning percentage

Patrick Mahomes' career in the postseason: 285.3 passing yards per game, 29.1 rushing yards per game, 105.8 passer rating, 67.9% completion, 6.1% touchdown percentage, 1.2% interception, .833 winning percentage

Notice that Patrick Mahomes accounts for slightly fewer total yards per game in the Playoffs, but his efficiency numbers improve or remain the same across the board. Now again, allow me to play devil's advocate for a moment… Are the Ravens postseason shortcomings squarely on the shoulders of Lamar Jackson? Of course not. Very few teams put as much on their quarterback's plate as the Ravens do with Lamar Jackson, and in the postseason, the quality of competition greatly improves. And let's not forget, if it weren't for Lamar's presence to begin with, the Ravens wouldn't routinely find themselves in the position where they've made the Playoffs with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations.

But even with that all said, there's still clearly another level that Lamar Jackson needs to get to in order for the Ravens to kick down that proverbial door.

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) enters the field before the game against the Miami Dolphins at M&T Bank Stadium.
© Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports 

The next step for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens

Lamar Jackson may be able to make the claim that he's the most prolific dual-threat quarterback in NFL history, but that's in large part due to what he does with his legs. Since arriving in Baltimore, Lamar's development as a passer has been a year-over-year story to watch, with 2023 proving to be one of, if not his best season yet in that regard.

According to Dalton Wasserman of Pro Football Focus, Lamar Jackson was drastically better when facing the blitz in 2023 than he had been the previous three seasons, a key ingredient in why his completion percentage, passer rating and passing success rate were among the best in the NFL last season.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson against the blitz, per PFF
Image courtesy of Pro Football Focus

What makes Lamar Jackson's 2023 improvement against the blitz even more impressive is that he made this jump under first-year offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who left his OC post at Georgia to come to the NFL. An improvement like this one in year two under Monken would make more sense. It would even be expected. But considering how Lamar picked up the nuances of Monken's offense in such a short amount of time, it's reasonable to believe that as the Ravens entrust him with even more responsibility within the offense, Baltimore's offensive ceiling will get even higher this year.

“I'm a lot more comfortable with everything, how he's calling the plays and what he's expecting us to do and stuff like that,” Jackson told reporters back in May, according to Michael Baca of NFL.com. “But I'm just looking forward to doing what we got to do to put us in great situations this season.”

The best situation the Ravens could find themselves in this season would be to be playing on Sunday February 9th. As has been the case every year since he's been in Baltimore, that's Lamar Jackson's goal. And the loss on their home turf to the Kansas City Chiefs last January is only fuel to the fire.

“It definitely left a bitter taste in our mouth just being that close. We worked so hard to get there and didn't do what we wanted to do, didn't fulfill our dream. Definitely a little chip on our shoulder.”