As the Baltimore Ravens enter the 2024 NFL season with an opportunity to avenge their AFC championship loss to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in their season opener this Thursday, ESPN analyst Stephen A Smith is challenging Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson to send a message to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
“If you don’t find yourself in that moment because you have a sorry team around you like Matthew Stafford had for 12 years, we’re able to appreciate your greatness and the depreciation of the product around you,” Smith said per ESPN’s “First Take.” And say, ‘Yo, that ain’t on you,’ we haven’t been able to say that about Lamar Jackson. We look at the Baltimore Ravens; what do we rave about? We rave about coach John Harbaugh. We rave about their defense. We rave about their rough-rider mentality, the intestinal fortitude that they have.”
With that in mind, 2024 should be the year we see the Ravens beat Kansas City.
“It’s about, yo, what are you going to do when you’re Lamar Jackson and you going up against that dude? We can’t forget what sports is all about,” Smith added. “Your regular season, we get you. You’re athleticism, we get it. Your abilities, we get it. But that also provokes us to ask, how come you can’t get it done when you going up against this brother? You do it against everybody else.”
Stephen A Smith says Lamar Jackson NEEDS to beat Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs 👀
“It ain't about playoff appearances anymore with Lamar Jackson… It's about one dude that repeatedly stands in your way. His name is Patrick Mahomes."
(via @FirstTake)pic.twitter.com/d19uomAH56
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 2, 2024
Ravens sign free agent running back Derrick Henry
The Ravens signed running back Derrick Henry to a two-year, $16 million contract. While the back-to-back champion Chiefs have set the bar for the rest of the league, the Ravens and their quarterback Lamar Jackson, equipped with reinforcements, have no more excuses for not beating the Chiefs, according to Stephen A Smith.
“Now, if you don’t take out Patrick Mahomes like you’re Josh Allen, and you lose 40 to 36 or something like that, we ain’t looking at you. You did your thing. But when you’re scoring ten after you running all over everybody all season long, now I got to look at you,” Smith said. “And then they go out and get Derrick Henry, and that’s going to prevent them from crowding the box, like you said. That can unleash you even more. He has even less of an excuse now than he ever has before. It ain’t about AFC title game appearances. It ain’t about playoff appearances anymore with Lamar Jackson. Hell, it ain’t even about the Super Bowl. It’s about one dude that repeatedly stands in your way.
“His name is Patrick Mahomes, [he’s] in the conversation as the GOAT, already considered arguably the GOAT if he wins three back-to-back-to-back. What you gonna do about it, Lamar? That’s it.”
The Chiefs host the Ravens in the NFL’s season-opening game this Thursday.
