Lamar Jackson wasn’t in a temper to have fun.
Positive, his Baltimore Ravens had simply clinched the AFC North with a Week 18 victory over the Cleveland Browns, however Jackson arrived on the postgame podium nonetheless in uniform slightly than sporting one of many shirts or hats commemorating the division crown.
“I’m targeted on the Wild Card recreation. I’m not going to deceive you,” Jackson mentioned. “I’m cool with what’s happening at this time. I’m cool, don’t get me unsuitable, however my thoughts’s on one thing else.”
That one thing else is the one factor lacking from Jackson’s in any other case illustrious résumé.
The 28-year-old quarterback is on a Corridor of Fame trajectory, having already gained two MVP Awards together with numbers by no means seen earlier than within the NFL.
In 2024, Jackson grew to become the primary participant to throw for 4,000 yards and rush for 900 yards in the identical season. He additionally grew to become the primary participant to throw greater than 40 landing passes and fewer than 5 interceptions in the identical marketing campaign.
He’s 70-24 as a starter in his seven common seasons.
However Jackson enters Saturday evening’s Wild Card recreation towards the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 2-4 file in his playoff profession. He has thrown six landing passes towards six interceptions in these video games, and his 75.7 postseason passer score is 26.3 factors decrease than his regular-season mark.
He’s the one two-time MVP in NFL historical past who hasn’t gained a Tremendous Bowl. He hasn’t even made it to 1.
That’s the narrative Jackson is attempting to alter.
“I’d simply be too excited,” Jackson mentioned Tuesday of his previous playoff video games. “That’s all. Too antsy. I’m seeing issues earlier than it occurred, like, ‘Oh, I acquired to calm myself down.’ However simply being extra skilled, I’ve discovered a option to steadiness it out.”
However the stress Jackson faces is just not distinctive to him.
Buffalo Payments quarterback Josh Allen, too, nonetheless seeks his elusive first championship. A hoop would validate the profession of Allen, whose 76 wins, 262 complete touchdowns and 30,595 complete yards are probably the most ever by way of seven NFL seasons.
His 28 passing touchdowns and 12 dashing touchdowns in 2024 marked the fifth consecutive season that Allen totaled at the very least 40 touchdowns.
And whereas his statistics paled compared to Jackson’s, most bookmakers count on Allen to win his first NFL MVP Award this 12 months after main the Payments to a 13-4 file and an AFC East title regardless of a lesser supporting solid.
Allen, 28, enters Sunday’s recreation towards the Denver Broncos with a 100.0 passer score and 21 landing passes towards 4 interceptions in 10 playoff appearances.
However Allen is simply 5-5 in these video games and, like Jackson, has by no means reached a Tremendous Bowl.
“There’s two issues I can management: It’s my angle and my effort,” Allen mentioned Wednesday. “And what all people else says, that’s their very own prerogative.”
A lot in the best way Tom Brady’s annual excellence restricted Peyton Manning’s postseason upside, Patrick Mahomes‘ dynastic run with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs has confirmed problematic for the opposite AFC quarterbacks of his period.
Final 12 months, Jackson accomplished simply 54.1% of his passes in a 17-10 loss to Kansas Metropolis within the AFC title recreation.
Allen is 0-3 within the postseason towards the Chiefs.
Within the final 5 years, the Chiefs have gained three Tremendous Bowls and reached one other. The Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow is the one AFC quarterback to defeat Mahomes throughout that stretch, however he went on to lose in Tremendous Bowl LVI and has not been again.
This 12 months’s AFC playoffs once more run by way of Kansas Metropolis, the place Mahomes is 12-2 in his playoff profession. This season, the Chiefs went 15-1 in video games began by Mahomes — with the lone loss coming in Buffalo in Week 11 — to clinch the AFC’s No. 1 seed.
Kansas Metropolis wouldn’t face Baltimore or Buffalo till the AFC title recreation, making Mahomes seemingly the ultimate dragon Jackson or Allen must slay to achieve the Tremendous Bowl.
Earlier than then, Jackson and Allen stand in one another’s methods. Wins by each this weekend would pit Baltimore towards Buffalo within the divisional spherical — the identical spherical by which Allen’s Payments beat Jackson’s Ravens, 17-3, in 2021 of their first playoff assembly.
“We all know what’s at stake,” Jackson mentioned Tuesday. “It’s win or go residence.”