After coming up short against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2024 AFC Championship, Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens came into their 2024-25 campaign with a chip on their shoulder. The addition of Derrick Henry in the offseason had everybody excited and many believed that this would finally be the Ravens year to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Nevertheless, Baltimore once again met their playoff demise, losing to the Buffalo Bills 27-25 in the AFC Divisional round this past weekend. This extended Baltimore’s 12-year streak of failing to win back-to-back playoff games. The Ravens entered the contest as –120 favorites and had shut down the Bills earlier in the regular season 35-10. Fans knew before this game that the loser would be under immense scrutiny, with everyone pointing fingers to assign blame.
Lamar Jackson
It’s no secret that Lamar Jackson does not live up to his potential in the playoffs. Jackson dug the Ravens into an 11-point hole in the first half of the game. In Baltimore’s second drive of the game, Lamar threw an interception five yards behind his intended target and followed it up with a fumble in the following drive. This led to a Bills touchdown, giving them a lead that they would hold onto for the remainder of the game.
Now, this was in no way Lamar’s worst playoff performance. In recent playoffs, we have seen him crumble after struggling early on. However, Lamar did not back down and eventually led the near comeback drive down the field at the end of the game. This does not leave him off the hook, though. Lamar did not have a single game this season with multiple turnovers until the brightest lights were on him. In fact, during his career, he has only committed multiple turnovers in 14% of regular season games. In his eight playoff games, he has had multiple turnovers in four of those matchups. That is the most by any quarterback in NFL history, second place being Tom Brady with three turnovers, doing so in eleven more starts. It isn’t coincidence or bad luck, it’s just a fact: When the playoffs come around, Lamar does not rise to the occasion.
Mark Andrews
Mark Andrews got off to a slow start at the beginning of the season, making only 10 catches through his first five games as the Ravens started off 2-3. He got it together as the season progressed and capped off the regular season with a touchdown in each of the final six regular season games, winning five and proving he was still a viable option in the Ravens dynamic offense.
In Sunday’s game against the Bills, Andrews completely fell apart. With less than nine minutes to be played in the game, Baltimore had all of the momentum as they were driving down the field trailing behind by just two points. Andrews reeled in a pass to the Buffalo 44-yard line which would have, at the very least, gotten the Ravens in position for a long field goal. The 29-year-old tight attempted to extend the play after the catch but failed to protect the ball as linebacker Terrell Bernard punched the ball, free forcing a fumble which was then scooped up by Buffalo, halting the Ravens momentum. This led to a field goal for Buffalo, stretching their lead to five. Andrews had an opportunity at redemption in the final minutes of the game as Baltimore lined up for a two-point conversion attempt down by two. They executed a perfect roll out for Andrews, which found him wide open in the endzone. Lamar Jackson hit him just above his line, and to the Ravens fans’ horror, the ball found its way through Andrews hands and fell to the turf. Andrews’ two mistakes were largely responsible for costing the Ravens their season.
Coaching
Despite the players putting on less than stellar performances, questions have to be asked about the coaching. Jon Harbaugh is a great coach, and he has the Superbowl ring to prove it. However, there were some glaring issues in this game. Lamar Jackson is the greatest dual threat quarterback we have ever seen, how is it possible that his legs were hardly put to use in this game? Lamar only ran for 39-yards in the game, and not once was it by play design. Lamar has improved significantly as a thrower over the past year, but his true gift is with his legs.
In addition, Derrick Henry was relatively nowhere to be seen until the third quarter. The Ravens were 9-0 this season in games where Henry got 20 touches, and he only saw 16 in this game. The Ravens failed to properly use their two best offensive players. The lost penalty battle was a huge breaking point for the Ravens. The Bills committed only one ten-yard penalty the whole game, meanwhile, the Ravens committed five for a total of 43 yards. If you look at these penalties paired with the turnover problems, it all comes down to a lack of discipline, which will always fall on the head coach to instill within his team.