Lamar Jackson recently made the headlines when he said the Baltimore Ravens overlooked the Tennessee Titans before their 28-14 loss to Tennessee in the AFC playoffs divisional round last year. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh offered a response when asked about Jackson’s comments during a virtual media meeting earlier this week. Simply put, Harbaugh disagreed with his quarterback.
“I respect your opinion on this,” said Harbaugh, through Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. “If he sees it that way, that’s how he sees it. That doesn’t bother me. I don’t think we’ve taken them personally lightly. I just think we didn’t play well.”
The league’s reigning MVP Jackson made the comments during an appearance on Complex’s load management podcast.
“It’s any given Sunday. No team, no opponent, can be underestimated, and that’s what we did,” Jackson said, via NFL.com’s Nick Shook. “So I’m looking forward to this 2020 season playing the Browns first … Don’t underestimate your opponents. They surprised us by surprise. That was it.”
While Jackson may not be completely off base with his opinion, one can make a more compelling argument that the Titans simply played better than the Ravens, who lost their first playoff game at home for the second straight season. While Baltimore’s career defense allowed Derrick Henry to run for 195 yards, Jackson was fired four times while committing three turnovers. Turnovers overshadowed Jackson’s 365 rushing yards and 143 passes, as Tennessee scored two of its four touchdowns after forcing Jackson to commit a rotation. The Titans’ other two touchdowns were scored after their defense stopped Jackson in quarterback runs designed on fourth and 1 plays.
The playoff loss to the Titans exposed deficiencies that the Ravens have aggressively filled in during the offseason. Defensively, the Ravens came out and traded for perennial Pro Bowl defensive end Calais Campbell. They also recruited defensive tackle Justin Madubuike along with linebackers Patrick Queen and Malik Harrison. Expect Queen and Harrison to start right away, with Madubuike getting replays as backup behind Derek Wolfe.
On the offensive side of the ball, Baltimore used his second-round pick to select running back JK Dobbins, who ran for more than 2,000 during his last season in Ohio state. The Ravens also recruited a pair of catchers at Devin Duernay and James Proche. On the offensive line, quarterback Yanda’s offseason retirement has opened the door for Ben Powers to replace Yanda as the Ravens’ starting right guard. And while neither player will likely start as rookies, guards Ben Bradeson and Tyrie Phillips will likely have considerable time in reserve roles.
While his offseason moves guarantee nothing about success in 2020, the Ravens have put themselves in a position to succeed in the postseason after falling short in the previous two years. They also added more pieces around Jackson, who is surely motivated to show that he can combine his regular-season success into postseason victories.
