Getty Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe.
The Baltimore Ravens suffered a tough loss to finish their 2019 season, and as a result, Lamar Jackson caught plenty of flack for the defeat to the Tennessee Titans.
Recently, Jackson commented on the loss and said from his perspective, the Ravens didn’t take the Titans seriously and underestimated them. That comment, however, isn’t sitting well with Fox Sports analyst Skip Bayless.
According to Bayless, Jackson wasn’t showing any respect for the Titans and their performance or skill with the comments, which in his words essentially dismiss the team that knocked the Ravens out of the 2020 playoffs and cut short their Super Bowl dreams.
Bayless said:
“This was the wort thing you could have said because you made an excuse that could come back to haunt you. Lamar you need to own this one. They kicked your butts. (You) were the rusty Ravens running into a buzzsaw on a Saturday night. The (Titans) punched you right in the mouth. The point was, you didn’t underestimate them Lamar, you underperformed. You were the MVP and you had a classically bad night. He’s played 2 playoff games in his life and they weren’t pretty. So he’s got that hanging over him. Again, if you say we just underestimated them, you are disrespecting, you are demeaning.”
Jackson struggled in the game and this along with the playoff game from the year before remain the blemishes on his resume moving forward. Obviously, he will have to win the next postseason matchup to keep folks from analyzing his every word.
Media Defends Lamar Jackson After Ravens Loss
In the aftermath, Jackson was being blamed for a second straight Ravens meltdown in the postseason, regardless of his stellar 2019 season on the field. In spite of that, though, not everyone was rushing to blame the team’s quarterback for being ousted from the playoffs again at the time.
In the aftermath of the 28-12 defeat to the Tennessee Titans, former quarterback Danny Kanell explained that even though Jackson had one bad night, age is still on his side, as is the fact that he recently finished off an amazing season on the field.
Just a few reminders to people taking shots at Lamar Jackson…
He’s 23
He just put down a season we have never seen before
He is a lock to be the second youngest MVP since Jim Brown.
He’s 23. It takes playoff experience to win. No doubt he’ll be back
He’s 23!!!!
As was also pointed out, other quarterbacks also started out with early holes in their playoff resume. The run of both those guys ended pretty good as well with a bunch of Lombardi Trophies.
Eli Manning lost the first two playoff games of his career. Peyton Manning lost the first three of his career.
But go ahead and tell me that this is a referendum on Lamar Jackson because he’s a “running QB.”
Obviously, there is still ample time for Jackson to turn things around and make his playoff resume better down the line. As Bayless is concerned, he might have to gain some humility to do that.
Analyst: Ravens Helped Lamar Jackson Lose
CBS Sports personality Damon Amendolara took things a step further, explaining specifically why people should get off the case of Jackson for his struggles. As he reminded, football remains a team game.
“His receivers dropped passes. His defense allowed nearly 200 yards on the ground to Derrick Henry. It was a team that with the Titans, kind of are on a magic carpet ride right now and the Ravens saving one of the worst performances of the season for that game,” Amendolara said.
As a result, Amendolara sees it foolish to think Jackson will never be able to win on the biggest of stages.
“Saying Lamar Jackson will never win in the playoffs is stupid. So stupid. We have no idea what he’s going to be,” he said. “And I’ll tell you this, if you gave a head coach like John Harbaugh a record like 14-2 every year and a first round bye or home field advantage, he’d take whatever quarterback is doing that every single day. Lamar Jackson was incredible this year. To take all that away because he had a bad day against the Titans is so short sighted. He had a bad day. The whole team had a really bad day.”
Jackson struggled against the Ravens himself, but the analysts are right. To brandish him as a failure for a pair of playoff exits early in his career is premature. That’s especially true considering the role Jackson has played thus far in Baltimore’s overall success.
The Ravens will have to get better play from Jackson in order to win, and it might start with a better mindset from their quarterback if Bayless is to be believed.
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