Shannon Sharpe’s podcast was graced by the extremely outspoken Cam Newton. As expected, the former Carolina Panthers QB had opinions on a lot of things, from Tom Brady being better than Patrick Mahomes to comparing J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake’s current rap beef to the NFL. However one of the most interesting takes by Cam came when Shannon asked the QB who he thought would win the Super Bowl first.
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Jordan Love, Brock Purdy, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott or Jalen Hurts? Cam without hesitation replied Lamar. Shannon however played the devil’s advocate and reminded Cam Newton how Lamar and the Ravens bottled their AFC Championship match against the Cheifs after a dominant run to the playoffs which saw them demolish Miami and the 49ers 56-19 and 33-19 respectively. Yet against the Chiefs, Lamar-led Ravens could barely make a mark despite home conditions.
Cam agreed with this assessment. He opined that one of the biggest weaknesses of the Ravens and Lamar currently is their inability to see off the tough scoring games. It’s like when the going gets tough, Lamar tends to overthink and pile further misery on himself. Instead, Cam gave the analogy of a chef and urged Jackson to only focus on your signature style and use it to win these ugly low-scoring games.
“Yeah. I think one thing that Lamar and the Ravens organization just have to figure out is how to win the ugly games. It’s one of them situations like sometimes when I look at Lamar, it’s like, bro, stop thinking. And it’s easy for a guy with that much talent to think, oh, it’s so many, like as a chef, you can prepare this meal in so many different ways. But everybody knows your signature is smoked.
Man, smoke this motherfucker [1.15] and get on about your day. You got to win. Find a way to win. to win the ugly games. And we can talk about the other stuff later. Patrick Mahomes has found a way to do that.”
He reminded Shannon that Brady and the Patriots’ greatness lay in how they effortlessly navigated tricky games with composure. The QB felt that Lamar and his teammates have to figure out a way to win such games as that is the only thing holding them back from winning the Super Bowl. Cam Newton is bang on with his assessment a deeper look into Lamar’s struggles proves his point.
Lamar Jackson’s Clutch Game Issues
Baltimore Ravens faithful had a lot of expectations from Lamar Jackson & Co. before they faced off against the KC Chiefs in the conference championship game. Baltimore last season was hands down the best team with them having the best win record last season with arguably one of the most well-rounded teams. On paper and keeping the form in mind, the Ravens were the heavy favorites to reach the Super Bowl and win it. Moreover, the Ravens were making the AFC Championship game for the first time since 2013. Safe to say, expectations were sky-high for Lamar Jackson & Co.
But as fate would have it, the game was a low-scoring “ugly” affair. Lamar despite stomping defenses in the league stage was seen clueless on the field against the Chiefs. His inability to innovate play under pressure and failure to provide that moment of magic saw the Ravens crash out with a 17-10 loss. Along with Cam’s assessment that Lamar & team find it hard to close out ugly games, stats also show that Jackson more often than not fails to deliver when the stakes are the highest.
For starters, against the Chiefs, Lamar completed just 54 percent of his passes finishing with a passer rating of 75.5. Chiefs QB Mahomes meanwhile had a passer rating of a whopping 100.5 in comparison. Even if we discount his performance against the Chiefs as a one-off, stats also show that this is the fourth time the Ravens have lost a playoff game since Lamar was assigned as the starting QB.
What hurt the Ravens fans most was how the two-time MVP looked clueless against the Chiefs. It felt like it was Lamar’s imposter on the field and was not the same Lamar of the league stage. Safe to say, if Jackson makes a small psychological tweak in his game, the world’s in his palm. Until then, the Super Bowl will elude him.
