Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens will be battling Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2024 NFL season opener on Thursday, Sept. 5, and former quarterback Ryan Leaf is pumped.
During an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Leaf said he is looking for Jackson and the Ravens to exact some revenge on the Chiefs for their AFC Championship Game loss back in January.
That was a rough loss for Baltimore.
All season long, the Ravens looked like the best team in football. They finished 13-4, marking the best record in the NFL. They nailed down a first-round bye. They were obliterating everyone in their path. That included the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
Then, the Chiefs came to town for a spot in the Super Bowl, and Baltimore laid an egg. At least on offense.
Kansas City defeated the Ravens by a score of 17-10 in spite of not scoring at all in the second half, as Baltimore’s offense took a vacation.
Jackson went 20-for-37 with 272 yards, a touchdown and an interception in the affair, also carrying the ball eight times for 54 yards.
Outside of wide receiver Zay Flowers, who logged five catches for 115 yards but also had a crucial fumble in the second half, nobody else on the Ravens’ offense made much of an impact.
Baltimore is certainly looking to put forth a much better offensive showing this time around, although the difference is that in this Week 1 matchup, the game will be at Arrowhead Stadium.
It will definitely be a tough task for Jackson and Co., who will enter the 2024 NFL campaign as AFC North favorites and one of the top candidates to take down the Chiefs in their quest for a third straight Super Bowl championship.
Do the Ravens have enough to achieve that feat?
Baltimore had a relatively quiet offseason, as it didn’t really add any major pieces and actually suffered some pretty big losses. Namely, the Ravens subtracted wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., linebacker Patrick Queen and edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney.
Still, with reigning MVP in Jackson in tow and John Harbaugh on the sideline, the Ravens will once again be big-time threats to make a deep playoff run.
Baltimore has actually had a run of disappointing endings ever since Lamar Jackson took over as the starting quarterback in 2018, so the club is hoping that it will finally break through in 2024.
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