What many people don’t understand about Lamar Jackson is the premium he places on winning the Super Bowl – this season, next year, every year.
The awards will find their way to Jackson, even in the years that it somewhat defies logic, as it did at the end of the 2024 season when Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen bested Jackson for Most Valuable Players honors (despite Jackson being named first-team All-Pro).
But it’s a different loss to Allen and the Bills that provided the fire that stoked the two-time MVP’s offseason. In the divisional round, 27-25, when tight end Mark Andrews, one of Jackson’s closest friends on the team, dropped what would have been a game-tying two-point conversion and likely send the game into overtime.
Missing out on his third MVP was one thing. But not reaching the Super Bowl, for the second straight season, as one of the best teams in the league? That was the real pain for Jackson, who is not one to move on from losses.
“Starting with the (Bills) game, there was kind of some deep-felt loss,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said. “The last two seasons have kind of ended that way with some really emotional losses.”
In the 2023 playoffs, the Ravens lost the AFC championship game at home to the Kansas City Chiefs, the eventual Super Bowl champions. Turnovers and miscues cost them, and the pattern repeated itself in Buffalo the next postseason. Jackson had two inexplicable turnovers (a fumble and interception) in the first half against the Bills.
Ending the season playing his best ball has become an emphasis for Jackson – thrower of 41 touchdowns, a career high, and four interceptions, a career low (aside from his rookie season in which he started seven games), last season.
“It’s on his heart. It’s on his mind,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve just got to find a way to finish.”
Jackson knows his legacy won’t be complete until he wins the last game of the season and hoists the Lombardi Trophy. Not that he cares about those things – such as legacy. Or what people say and think about him.
Winning the game, then the next one, then the last one, is everything.
“We were pretty good last year,” said Jackson, who surpassed 4,000 passing yards for the first time in his career and led the league with a 119.6 rating. “I always tell you guys that the sky is the limit. We never know until we’re out there. I believe we’ll be a lot better this year as well.”
What’s cause for optimism, Harbaugh said, is that Jackson is still young. He’ll play the 2025 regular season at 28 years old and turn 29 on Jan. 7, 2026 – when the Ravens could be preparing for a third straight postseason.
“We really kind of comb with a fine tooth the things that we really want to improve on, whether it’s footwork, whether it’s reads, his eyes, discipline, taking care of the football, things like that,” Harbaugh said. “But yes, at his age, playing the way he’s playing is a really good feeling for optimism for the organization and for his career.”
It’s the third year for Jackson working in offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s system. With each season, Jackson has taken on more responsibility, and he’s become less shy about letting his preferences be known, Harbaugh said. His communication with the coaching staff has gone to the next level.
“Each year, we’re looking for ways to give him more because he’s advancing each and every year in all areas of his game, and we grew some this year,” Harbaugh said. “We added some new concepts and new play calls and things of that nature.
“You see maturity there in terms of what he sees on the field and things that he wants to do offensively. He’s having more input back to us as coaches.”
Jackson said he wanted to make the game easier for the offense and spent his offseason studying Baltimore’s losses.
“Going into a game and knowing what the defense is going to do before they do it,” he said.
Making the Super Bowl is a goal bigger than one individual, even Jackson. Wide receiver Zay Flowers said the team has spent time talking about beating themselves in the past two playoff losses.
“We know where we’re supposed to be and where we’re supposed to end up at the end of the year, so it’s really on us,” Flowers said.
Jackson had the receivers start popping into quarterbacks’ meetings last season and has made that a priority heading into the season. He wanted to spend more time with his teammates this offseason.
“I feel like just bonding with my guys will help us out a lot more on the field,” Jackson said. “Picking each other’s brains, being around each other a lot more – we’ll probably know what one of us is thinking ahead (of time).”
Five-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins was the team’s veteran wideout addition this offseason. Running back Derrick Henry and wideout Rashod Bateman received contract extensions this offseason. In Andrews and Isaiah Likely, the Ravens are spoiled with one of the best receiving tight-end units this offseason. There are impact players on all three levels of the defense and defensive coordinator Zac Orr is now in his second year.
“Just playmakers all around, and I know (Jackson) has a lot of fun,” Henry said. “You guys see the highlights and the plays he makes. These guys love playing for him, and I love being his teammate.”
But Henry didn’t want to dive into team-wide expectations for 2025.
“Everything looks good on paper until you go out there and actually do it,” Henry said. “We know what we’re capable of and what we can do, but we know the work we’ve got to put in to do those things and get where we want to go and be one of the top offenses in the league.”
The pieces are in place for the Ravens. Jackson, of course, is the lynchpin. And once he becomes “Lombardi Lamar,” his legacy will be complete.
Winning the final game of the season may feel like a faraway task with training camp just beginning. For Jackson, maybe it’s closer than ever.
This post appeared first on USA TODAY
