By ESPN | Created at 2025-01-07 23:24:40 | Updated at 2025-01-08 19:27:48
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Why Tyler Fulghum is backing the Ravens in third matchup vs. Steelers (0:36)
Tyler Fulghum explains why he's taking an ascending Ravens team vs. a struggling Steelers team. (0:36)
Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff WriterJan 7, 2025, 05:29 PM ET
- Jamison Hensley is a reporter covering the Baltimore Ravens for ESPN. Jamison joined ESPN in 2011, covering the AFC North before focusing exclusively on the Ravens beginning in 2013. Jamison won the National Sports Media Association Maryland Sportswriter of the Year award in 2018, and he authored a book titled: Flying High: Stories of the Baltimore Ravens. He was the Ravens beat writer for the Baltimore Sun from 2000-2011.
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- If Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has learned anything from his playoff struggles, it's to remember to keep his emotions in check when the stakes of the games increase.
"I'd just be too excited," Jackson said after Tuesday's practice. "That's all. Too antsy. I'm seeing things before it happened, like, 'Oh, I got to calm myself down.' But just being more experienced, I've found a way to balance it out."
As the Ravens play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Saturday's wild-card game, Jackson will look to overcome his postseason disappointment. The two-time NFL Most Valuable Player is 2-4 in the playoffs and has never reached the Super Bowl in his previous six seasons.
The issue with Jackson has been turnovers. In six playoff starts, he has thrown six interceptions and has lost three fumbles.
"You got to try to be mistake free," Jackson said. "The game's won with the turnover battle and keeping the ball in your control, moving the ball down the field, getting first downs, putting points on the ball. Obviously, that's how you win those games."
Jackson doesn't think about the playoff losses from earlier in his career because he feels he was too young. There's only one postseason defeat that repeatedly comes to mind -- last season's 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game.
"That's probably the only playoff game I do think about," Jackson said. "It was right there. But my mind, I'm focused now, though. It is what it is at this point."
What does he think about from that AFC Championship Game?
"We lost it," he said.
