"Super Bowl or bust for Lamar Jackson": 3x Super Bowl champ raises the stakes for Ravens' 2024 season
Lamar Jackson is the reigning MVP of the National Football League but regular-season exploits count for little in late January.
The Baltimore Ravens had the league's best record last season but the Kansas City Chiefs picked themselves up after a dispiriting loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas Day. Patrick Mahomes' magic had the Ravens on the ropes at halftime with Kansas City leading 17-7. The Ravens never recovered from their mistakes and fell to the eventual Super Bowl champions.
In 2024, though, the Ravens will look to go one step further, especially with a revamped offense.
The pressure will be on Baltimore in 2024 and three-time Super Bowl champion Mark Schlereth didn't hold back when raising the stakes for Lamar Jackson's Ravens. On his Stinkin' Truth podcast this week, Schlereth said:
“This is Super Bowl or bust for Lamar Jackson. He’s improved every year as a thrower. Todd Monken, I think they did a great job working together. But in the AFC Championship Game, their running backs had six carries.
"How do your running backs get six carries. I know they had injuries, but how are you giving them six carries and basically saying ‘Lamar, beat everybody from the pocket.’ It’s just not the way they’ve been wired.”
Are Lamar Jackson's Ravens still the team to beat in the AFC North?
With Hard Knocks cameras following the whole of the AFC North this year, fans will be privy to a whole host of storylines in 2024.
Lamar Jackson's Ravens will be out to prove they're still the king in the north but Joe Burrow's Cincinnati Bengals and Deshaun Watson's Browns both will be looking to reign supreme.
According to our algorithm, the Ravens' chances of topping the AFC stand at 18.19%.
But the Ravens did suffer some losses in free agency. Baltimore lost some major contributors in the secondary in Geno Stone and Ronald Darby while Patrick Queen will also be a huge miss.
All things considered, the Bengals stand to be Baltimore's biggest threat despite the presence of Derrick Henry to share the burden on offense.