T-minus seven days and 11 hours until Lamar Jackson leads the Ravens into Kansas City against Patrick Mahomes and the Super Bowl champion Chiefs to kick off the NFL’s 105th season next Thursday night.
Jackson captured the regular-season MVP last year, but Mahomes had the last laugh, walking away with the Super Bowl MVP. Still, Damien Woody thinks the one AFC team with the best chance to derail the Chiefs’ quest to capture an unprecedented three straight Super Bowls is, you guessed it, Jackson’s Ravens.
And, Woody said on SportsCenter Thursday morning, the conversations this week would be much different had Baltimore stuck to its identity in the January AFC title game.
“They really got away from their identity in running the football,” said Woody, who won two Super Bowls. “Had they stuck with that, we might be talking about a different story as it relates to last season, 2023.”
During the regular season, Baltimore led the league in three rushing categories, attempts per game (31.8), yards per game (156.5) and touchdowns (28). But during its 17-10 home loss to the Chiefs with a Super Bowl berth on the line, Baltimore ran just 16 times for 81 yards.
No one had to tell Eric DeCosta and John Harbaugh. The Ravens complemented Jackson with four-time Pro Bowler Derrick Henry, who can reach 10,000 career rushing yards this season.
“He’s a sledgehammer at the running back spot,” Woody said. “He’s going to bring a different attitude to the running game, a punisher that, quite honestly, guys don’t want to hit. And I think Lamar Jackson in his second year in Todd Monken’s offense should be even better, if you can believe that.”
Thursday’s opener is the first NFL game ever featuring players with multiple MVPs. And in any week, it’s the first game in league annals pairing starting quarterbacks under age 30 who’ve won multiple MVPs.
Kansas City began defense of its Super Bowl title one year ago at Arrowhead Stadium by losing to Dan Campbell and the upstart Detroit Lions.