Emmanuel Acho breaks down why Lamar Jackson is the reason behind Ravens' playoff demise
Following the Baltimore Ravens' divisional-round loss to the Buffalo Bills, Emmanuel Acho did not hold back on his Lamar Jackson criticism. Speaking on The Facility on Fox Sports 1, the former linebacker laid into the Ravens quarterback, as posted on X on Monday.
“Lamar Jackson, when it matters most, doesn’t show up the most. For whatever reason, he doesn’t show up the most. Is it coincidence, is it causation or is it correlation?”
Lamar Jackson’s playoff struggles continue
In what has become a recurring theme, Lamar Jackson led the Ravens to an impressive regular season campaign to once again fall short in the playoffs. In this game, it could be argued he was not to blame for the loss.
Jackson had two turnovers in the first half - a fumble and an interception. But he led the team back into the game and had double the passing yards of Bills quarterback Josh Allen. Jackson did everything right to tie the game. Unfortunately for them, TE Mark Andrews had a poor showing, fumbling once and dropping what would have been the game-tying two-point conversion.
However, Acho still took aim at the potential three-time MVP. The Fox Sports analyst elaborated on how Jackson has underperformed in the two most important games of the past two seasons.
“Lamar Jackson has not had a two-turnover game since last year’s AFC championship game, so y’all do the math. How on earth in the last two regular seasons, does Lamar Jackson have 74 total touchdowns and 22 giveaways, but in the last two most important games of his career, he has three touchdowns and four giveaways?"
Acho didn't focus on who was to blame for their recent loss but called for Jackson to step up in big games.
“Who’s at fault for last night’s game, that’s minutia. The bigger issue at hand is, when Lamar Jackson has to play his best, he simply does not play his best. We can see another unanimous MVP-caliber season. And not only individuals at this desk tell you but I’m sure your friends told you, you have never seen a Lamar like this before.
“Who is at fault for yesterday? I don’t particularly care. I think it was Mark Andrews if you had to make me pick. However, when you need to play your best, in the last two years, you have not played your best.”
Now that they are out of the playoffs, the Ravens have time to evaluate what went wrong for them as they missed the Super Bowl despite an MVP-type season from Jackson once again.