Stephen A. Smith offered a damning verdict on Lamar Jackson’s performance against the Kansas City Chiefs, suggesting he will never win a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens if he can’t beat Patrick Mahomes.
The Chiefs began their bid for a historic third straight Super Bowl victory with a thrilling 27-20 win over the Ravens on Thursday night.
Baltimore thought they had tied the game 27-27 with zero seconds left on the clock, but tight end Isaiah Likely’s toe was out of bounds when he caught Jackson’s pass.
Jackson had an inspired running performance to keep the Ravens in the game, but he agonizingly threw a previous pass too far to Likely in the end zone and also missed against a wide-open Zay Flowers.
The loss to Mahomes on Thursday extended Jackson’s record to 1-5 against the Chiefs star. Their previous meeting was in last season’s AFC Championship game, when the Ravens lost at home.
Stephen A. Smith has claimed that Lamar Jackson is still levels below his rival Patrick Mahomes
Speaking on his own YouTube show on Friday, Smith said Jackson once again proved he’s not on Mahomes’ level and he feared for his chances of beating the Chiefs quarterback again.
He said: ‘Lamar Jackson looks spectacular if you just look at the numbers, but you have to look at the results. When the game was on the line, he couldn’t make the necessary shot.
‘Call it what you want. Lamar Jackson, as great as he is, as much of a superstar and as great a pitcher as he is, has his levels.
“When you look at that record and you had a chance to erase it and you missed a pass to Likely in the left corner of the end zone. You threw a pass too long. He’s 6-foot-4 and you still threw a pass too long.
‘The biggest mistake was Zay Flowers. He was wide open, there was nobody within seven yards of him and Lamar Jackson missed him by five yards. It wasn’t even close. It was a terrible throw, a terrible mistake.
‘I don’t know if the Ravens won the game or not because even after scoring the touchdown, John Harbaugh was down two, so it’s entirely possible they got stopped on the two-point conversion and lost the game.
Jackson missed passes to Zay Flowers and Isaiah Likely at crucial moments in the fourth quarter
Jackson finally found Likely for a dramatic late touchdown, but his foot was out of bounds.
‘But here’s the bottom line: The superstar that is Lamar Jackson, with the game on the line and in his hands, made two bad missed throws that we all know Patrick Mahomes would have made.
‘He’s going to have to do better and the Baltimore Ravens are going to have to do better. Their defense was disorganized, there were a number of missed assignments, don’t even get me started on the illegal formation fouls against them.
“But Patrick Mahomes played well and the defense will have to learn to be a group of tough guys. They still have a lot of work to do on defense and offense.
‘But either way, the biggest story to take away from this game is that Lamar Jackson, superstar that he is, still falls a little short of Patrick Mahomes.
‘How are they going to win a Super Bowl in the Lamar Jackson era if they can’t figure out how to get past Patrick Mahomes, particularly in the biggest moments?’
Smith also criticized the Ravens for not involving new running back Derrick Henry, insisting they should have “got another receiver” if they weren’t going to use him to the fullest.
The thrilling season opener between the Chiefs and Ravens was the most-watched NFL opener in history, according to NBC. Data shows that viewership peaked at 33 million viewers in the second quarter.
Taylor Swift watched Travis Kelce and the Chiefs hold on for a win on NFL Opening Night
Fans were desperate to see the return of football and also catch a glimpse of Taylor Swift as she returned to Arrowhead Stadium to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce in action.
The game averaged 28.9 million viewers on NBC and its Peacock streaming service. That was five percent higher than last season’s season opener (in which the Detroit Lions upset the Chiefs).
Swift stunned in a denim outfit and thigh-high boots as she sat next to Kelce’s father, Ed. Swift then sat with her mother, Donna.
The New York Post published Images showed the couple boarding a flight to New York on Friday.
Kelce was visible wearing a baseball cap, T-shirt and shorts, but his girlfriend used an umbrella to prevent photographers from capturing his face.
The couple had previously been spotted together in New York. In October 2023, they made surprise appearances on Saturday Night Live before dining at the Waverley Inn.