Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens earned their first win of the season against the Dallas Cowboys in a game that had no business being as close as it was. Baltimore dominated the game early, destroying the Cowboys on the ground while building up a 28-6 lead through three quarters. However, that wasn’t the end of the story, as Dallas battled back and nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback. Jackson saved the team with a game-clinching first down run late in the game, but he didn’t hold back when asked about the outcome during a post-game interview.
While his suicide watch comments earned most of the headlines, Lamar Jackson had something to say about how the Ravens chose to protect a lead. When asked about finishing strong, the quarterback made it clear that he thinks the team must be more aggressive and not take the foot off the pedal, something John Harbaugh seemingly does not agree with.
“Man, the game’s not over until it’s 0:00 on the clock. I didn’t like how things were going towards the end, you know, I thought we should have put more points on the board, we should have put gas on the pedal when we were up 28-6.”
Lamar Jackson calls John Harbaugh out after another disgraceful coaching performance #firejohnharbaugh pic.twitter.com/USqgiJp5dZ
— Cursin Daily 🥥🌴 (@CursinDaily) September 22, 2024
Lamar Jackson Questions John Harbaugh, Ravens Late-Game Coaching
Unfortunately, blown leads are not a new trend for John Harbaugh, Lamar Jackson, and the Baltimore Ravens. The team hired Harbaugh back in 2008 and, since that time, Baltimore has lost nine games when they’ve held a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. The most recent occurrence came in Week 2 when Baltimore had a comfortable lead against an underwhelming Las Vegas Raiders team. However, despite this, Gardner Minshew and company led an improbable comeback to pick up their first win of the season and knock the Ravens to 0-2. Playing in a competitive division where every game matters, this blown lead could be the difference between hosting a playoff game and going on the road in the Wild Card round.
Lamar Jackson also isn’t the first player to question the Ravens coaching staff. Following the aforementioned loss to the Raiders, 2023 first-round pick Zay Flowers retweeted a post questioning his lack of involvement in the second half of games. Flowers finished Week 3 with just three receptions for 20 yards, but it’s hard to blame the Ravens coaching staff for his lack of production in Week 3. Derrick Henry dominated the Dallas front, recording 151 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries for an impressive 6.0 yards per attempt. There is no reason to throw the ball when you’re running that efficiently, so you excuse the lack of production.
What can’t be excused, however, is the fact that the Cowboys nearly became the latest team to erase a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. Football is a strange game and anything can happen on any given Sunday. In a vacuum, this near-comeback could be written off as a one-week fluke against one of the league’s more talented offenses. However, since this keeps happening to John Harbaugh’s Ravens, Lamar Jackson is right to question the decision to take the foot off the gas late in games.
Main Photo: Kevin Jairaj – USA Today Sports
