What the Ravens and Lamar Jackson can take away from another Chiefs Super Bowl victory
Star defensive tackle Chris Jones gave his thoughts on the team’s journey after the Kansas City Chiefs won their third Super Bowl in the previous five years and their second straight late Sunday night, confirming their dynasty with a 25-22 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers. One particular stop caught our attention.
He stated on NFL Network, “I think we faced the best team in the league in [the] Baltimore Ravens, hands down.”
It was intended as compliments. It was probably just another chilly shower in Baltimore. Preliminary playoff odds favorites to win the Super Bowl were the Ravens. They had only managed one victory as a result of a poor offensive effort against Kansas City in the AFC championship game, which ended their hopes of winning the championship.
The Ravens’ 2023 campaign had all the makings of something exceptional, but there’s always next year. Here are three things they can take away from the Chiefs’ victory in Super Bowl LVIII as their offseason develops.
Remain out of danger.
It wasn’t 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings almost taking home the Most Valuable Player award after Sunday’s game. or Taylor Swift attending the game alongside Ice Spice and Blake Lively. or that one tweet from Joe Biden.
No, this play was it:
Since the beginning of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl run the previous season, Mahomes has only thrown one interception in his previous seven playoff games. His career interception percentage over 18 postseason games is 1.2%; among qualified quarterbacks, only C.J. Stroud (1%) performed better in the 2023 regular season, and the Houston Texans were by no means playing playoff-caliber defenses every game.
Of course, Lamar Jackson, the quarterback for the Ravens, has made mistakes a lot during the postseason. Not only interceptions and fumbles, but also plays that ought to have resulted in a touchdown as well. Jackson was strip-sacked, threw an interception in the fourth quarter, and was fortunate to not have at least one or two more passes intercepted in the Ravens’ defeat to the Chiefs.
Compared to Regular-Season Lamar, Playoff Lamar has been noticeably more prone to turnover during his six postseason appearances. According to Pro Football Focus, Jackson’s turnover-worthy-play rate on drop-backs has increased during the four seasons he has qualified for the playoffs.
Playoff Mahomes, on the other hand, has only gotten better since 2019, the year he won the Super Bowl for the first time in Kansas City. Mahomes’ superpower is Jackson’s kryptonite.
Prioritize pass rushers.
General manager Eric DeCosta was asked if the Ravens intended to use the franchise tag on All-Pro defensive lineman Justin Madubuike, a pending free agent, during the team’s season-ending news conference earlier this month.
DeCosta remarked, “This year, I learned a lesson. “Not to rehash the Lamar negotiations, but one of the best things that came out of that was that I discovered how helpful it is to just keep things quiet. Sometimes there’s value in not really revealing your hand or cards. Therefore, we will soon have made all of those decisions. There isn’t much time left.
The franchise tag gives an unrestricted free agent a fully guaranteed one-year contract and keeps him off the open market. NFL teams will have a 15-day window to use it starting next Tuesday. A defensive tackle’s tag value in 2024 is expected to be $20.9 million, according to Spotrac. In doing so, Madubuike would
Madubuike would more than repay the Ravens’ investment if he could consistently replicate the impact of Jones, one of the NFL’s top interior rushers and a five-time Pro Bowl selection for the Chiefs. Among defensive tackles in the regular season, Madubuike led with 13 sacks, while Jones came in second with 10.5. According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Jones tied for fourth place at the position with 66 quarterback pressures, while Madubuike came in fifth with 64. Madubuike had nine pressures in two postseason games; Jones had 12 in four playoff games, including six against San Francisco, one of which may have prevented a touchdown in overtime.
