Lamar Jackson ‘has yet to show up’ in big Ravens moments, Shannon Sharpe says

Lamar Jackson is on the brink of winning his second NFL MVP award, which will make him the 11th player in league history to win multiple MVPs.

But after Sunday’s gut-wrenching Ravens home loss to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game, the 27-year-old quarterback, six seasons into his NFL career, has yet to appear in a Super Bowl.

While he has plenty of time on a talented Ravens team that has drafted well, Shannon Sharpe sees a trend in Jackson’s performances in the postseason.

“I believe there’s still a chance that Lamar can get to and win a Super Bowl because he has that kind of ability. But in big moments, Lamar Jackson has yet to show up when the team absolutely needs him to,” Sharpe, who won three Super Bowls, including one with the Ravens, said during ESPN’s “First Take” on Monday.

” And that’s the thing, a lot of times what makes these great quarterbacks historically great — when you take an aspect away, when you take the running game away, we’ve seen [Peyton] Manning, we’ve seen [Tom] Brady, we’ve seen [Patrick] Mahomes, we’ve seen other great quarterbacks go win those type of games. Yes, you are a run-reliant team first, but if Lamar Jackson is to be believed as what he is, he’s got to win this game.”

A downcast Lamar Jackson reacts during the Ravens’ loss to the Chiefs on Jan. 28, 2024. Getty Images

Jackson went 20-for-37 with 272 yards, a first-quarter touchdown, a second-quarter lost fumble and a fourth-quarter interception.

The interception came on second-and-10 on the Kansas City 25-yard line with 6:45 and Baltimore trailing by 10, a throw into triple coverage that did include some contact on Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely.

Jackson was limited to eight rushes for 54 yards — and a 13-yard catch on his own deflected pass — after rushing for 100 yards, completing 16 of 22 passes and accounting for four total touchdowns against the Texans in the divisional round.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is sacked by the Chiefs’ George Karlaftis on Jan. 28, 2024. AP

The Ravens were one-and-done in the playoffs in each of Jackson’s first two seasons; they lost 28-12 to the Titans in his second year, when he won MVP and Baltimore was 14-2 during the regular season.

Baltimore got revenge on Tennessee in the wild-card round the following year but lost to the Bills in the divisional round.

The Ravens missed the playoffs two years ago and last year, Jackson was out injured for the team’s wild-card loss to the Bengals.

Shannon Sharpe during Monday’s episode of “First Take.” ESPN

Sunday marked Jackson’s first playoff clash with the Mahomes-led Chiefs, who many thought were ripe for the picking after a rocky regular season that led to Mahomes having to play playoff games on the road for the first time as the No. 3 seed.

“You’ll never probably see Kansas City as vulnerable in the postseason as you had them coming into this game,” Sharpe said. “[The Chiefs are] gonna make moves; they’re gonna get better wide receivers, they’re gonna get more speed at the linebacker position. This was your best chance.”