Lamar Jackson, Ravens look nothing like last year’s magic carpet ride

The Baltimore Ravens’ upside is seriously capped with Lamar Jackson’s regression.

There’s a saying that another meaning of NFL is Not For Long, a phrase the Baltimore Ravens have become all too familiar with this season.

After going 14-2 a year ago, Baltimore is now 6-4 after losing 30-24 to the Titans in overtime and now having to worry about actually qualifying for the postseason.

A big part of the Ravens’ issues this year come down to some serious regression from their quarterback, Lamar Jackson. After winning the MVP a year ago, Jackson hasn’t looked like the same guy who took over the league in the second half of 2019.

Jackson isn’t completing passes at the same clip as the Ravens have seen his completion percentage dip to 63.4 percent, a nearly three percent drop from a 66.1 mark a year ago. There also haven’t been nearly as many explosive plays in the running game out of Jackson, which is a result of teams realizing that the Baltimore offense isn’t set up to go deep down the field.

The Titans, who entered this game as big underdogs, took advantage of some bad downfield throws from Jackson, whose one interception came after overthrowing a receiver by about five yards on a deep shot. Baltimore has now dropped three of its past four games, with two of those defeats coming at home, an alarming sign for a team that was viewed as a real Super Bowl contender at the beginning of the season.

The good news for Ravens fans is that their schedule is still manageable after this week’s game against the Steelers. Four of Baltimore’s final five opponents are below .500, including two games against NFC East foes and another two against the Jaguars and Bengals, the latter of whom just lost Joe Burrow for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Squeaking into the playoffs is still possible but the Ravens really aren’t going to go anywhere if Jackson can’t snap out of this funk. If Jackson is merely a good quarterback instead of a great one there isn’t enough talent on the rest of this Baltimore roster to challenge Pittsburgh and Kansas City for a spot in the Super Bowl.