Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson entered the AFC Divisional Round game against the Houston Texans as the leading candidate for MVP and with questions about his postseason performance during his career.
Jackson played his best postseason game in the Ravens 34-10 win over the Texans. This will be Jackson’s first AFC Championship Game as the Ravens look for their first Super Bowl appearance since 2012.
Lamar Jackson’s Best Postseason Game
In his first four postseason games, Jackson had a 55.9% completion rate, three touchdown passes, one rush touchdown, five interceptions, and two lost fumbles. He averaged 225 pass yards per game and 91.8 rush yards per game in the playoffs, as the Ravens lost three of the four games.
Jackson, who has not played since Dec. 31, started slow in the first half. He had 52 pass yards, 50 rush yards, and one touchdown pass in the first half. The teams headed to the locker room tied at 10.
Jackson said he did the majority of the talking at halftime and joked that it wouldn’t be inappropriate to repeat what he said. Jackson said, “We weren’t doing our job with our unit. Second half, we wanted to put points on the board, start moving the ball, start moving the chains, and look like ourselves.”
In the second half, Jackson and the Ravens shook off the rust from the time off and outscored the Texans 24-0. Jackson had 100 pass yards, 50 rush yards, one touchdown pass, and two rushing scores in the second half.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said, “Lamar played out of his mind.” He gave credit to Jackson for his input at halftime on how the offense should play in the second half.
Jackson completed 16 of 22 passes for 152 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in the game. He also had 11 rushes for 100 yards with two touchdowns, both in the second half.
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Jackson is the first player in NFL history with two touchdown passes, two rushing touchdowns, 100 rush yards, and a 100 passer rating in a game, regular season or postseason.
He also became the fifth player to pass for two touchdowns and rush for two touchdowns in a playoff game.
Next Up for the Ravens
Baltimore will host the AFC Championship Game next Sunday and will play the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes or the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen. Jackson is 1-3 in the regular season against the Chiefs and 1-2 against the Bills, including a loss in the 2020 Divisional Round.
After a 3-2 start, the Ravens have won 11 of their last 13 games, with five wins over postseason teams in that stretch. One of the two losses was in Week 18 to the Pittsburgh Steelers when the Ravens rested Jackson and several other starters.
The Ravens could get back tight end Mark Andrews, who has been out since Week 11 with an ankle injury. At the time, there was concern that his season might be over. Baltimore placed him on injured reserve, but he has been practicing for the last two weeks and could return next week for the AFC Championship Game.
This will be the first AFC Championship Game in the city of Baltimore since the 1970 season. The Baltimore Colts defeated the Oakland Raiders behind Johnny Unitas, who had 245 passing yards and a touchdown. The Colts advanced to Super Bowl 5, where they defeated the Dallas Cowboys 16-13.
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