Here’s a pertinent question in the aftermath of the Ravens’ imposing 41-31 win at Tampa Bay Monday night. If they squared off this week against the Chiefs in an AFC Championship Game, could Baltimore finally beat an imperfectly perfect Kansas City? According to ESPN’s Mike Greenberg and Jeff Saturday, the 5-2 Ravens would do it because Lamar Jackson has reached an important threshold in his career.
“Lamar Jackson reminds me of Peyton Manning,” Greenberg said Tuesday morning on Get Up. “It reminds me of Peyton early in his career. Won a bunch of MVPs, couldn’t get over the one hump. Couldn’t beat Tom Brady. Couldn’t get past him in the playoffs. Is this the time, is this the year, that he does that?”
After Brady and the Patriots ended Colts seasons in the 2003 and ’04 playoffs – seasons in which Manning claimed MVP honors — Indianapolis finally broke through in 2006. That year, Manning led the team not only to a 38-34 win over New England in the AFC Championship, but also to a 29-17 Super Bowl triumph over Chicago.
Jackson, who threw five touchdown passes in Monday’s win at Tampa Bay (4-3), also has claimed two MVPs (2019 and 2023). After that MVP last season, Jackson and the Ravens had identity issues in a home loss to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the AFC Championship. But this year, the Ravens have a new identity, a 547-pound elephant they break out in the fourth quarter as they did Monday against the Bucs.
Because they lost by a toe in the season-opener Sept. 5 at Kansas City, the Ravens might need to return to Arrowhead Stadium to beat the Chiefs, but Saturday believes they would win this time. The former center who played with Manning 13 years in Indianapolis agreed with Greenberg that this is Jackson’s time, but not because Jackson has improved his play.
“Everybody expected us to throw the ball all over the field in the playoffs,” Saturday said. “It’s much harder when you’re playing those great defenses. That’s why I’m saying Derrick Henry makes the difference. It gives you another weapon in the backfield.”
Henry has made the difference in each of Baltimore’s wins over its five-game winning streak, a stretch the Ravens will put on the line at Cleveland (1-6) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS). Getting better as the season progresses and resting during much of the middle of the game, Henry still averaged 11.3 yards per carry on Monday (15 attempts, 169 yards). And even more frightening than his 81-yard romp on Monday night, or Jackson sprinting ahead of him to serve as his lead blocker, might be offensive coordinator Todd Monken fooling defenses with an occasional fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Henry.
Greenberg’s advice for Jackson: Let Henry win the MVP, go beat the Chiefs on the way to a Super Bowl victory and enjoy becoming one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time.
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