Ravens Lamar Jackson refutes rivalry narrative with Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs

Rivalries are some of the most entertaining and compelling narratives in all of sports and in the NFL, rivalries between divisional opponents and championship-contending teams, specifically their starting quarterbacks, are storylines that sports media pundits lament and that dominate headlines ahead of each matchup.

Heading into Week Three the most highly anticipated game of the week and arguably of the year will be the Baltimore Ravens bout with the defending Superbowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in primetime on Monday Night Football.

It will not only feature a showdown between two of the most elite teams and prime Superbowl contenders in the league, but it will be the third head-to-head matchup in the young career of the two brightest stars in the game.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes are the last two league MVPs who broke out with historic seasons in their second years in the league. They’ve been compared and contrasted to one another all offseason and some have even gone as far as to project that they will have a long-lasting rivalry that resembled the one between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning who battled for supremacy in the AFC for over a decade.

While the media has fanned the flames and spun the storyline of a budding rivalry between the two generational talents, Jackson dispels the narrative that one is blossoming. He is treating this upcoming game not different than any other and is focused on making plays against the Chiefs defense and not competing with Mahomes since the two play on the same side of the ball and won’t ever be on the field at the same time unless it is during pregame warmups or postgame acts of sportsmanship.

“It’s just like any other game. I don’t have to focus on Mahomes,” Jackson said Thursday. “I have to focus on their defense. I have to focus on scoring. I have to focus on my job and making my offense do our thing. But my defense has to worry about him.”

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the word rival “most commonly refers to a person or group that tries to defeat or be more successful than another person or group, which means that rivals tend to come in pairs.”

The Chiefs have succeeded at beating the Ravens in the last three meetings between these two teams including in each of the last two seasons when Jackson and Mahomes were the starters. Kansas City isn’t just 2-0 versus the Jackson-led Ravens, they have enjoyed success in the postseason as well (4-1) which is a place where Baltimore has yet to record a win in back to back trips to the playoffs with the reigning league MVP.

Jackson only has three regular-season losses on his ledger compared to 21 wins as a starter and a third of them have come against the Chiefs. As a true competitor, he hates to lose but even though Mahomes gets credit for handing him those two defeats, Jackson isn’t concerning himself with rivalries or opposing quarterbacks.

“I don’t really care for rivalries or thinking about another QB,” Jackson said last month. “I play offense, he plays offense. We’ve got to worry about each other’s defenses. … I don’t have any problem with them. Those two losses definitely make me mad, but it is what it is. Move on.”

Ever since the night he was drafted and Hall of Fame corner Deon Sanders asked him what the Ravens were going to get out of him after being selected with the last pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Jackson has not been shy about his desires to bring another Superbowl championship to Baltimore.

The Ravens and Chiefs appeared destined to meet in the AFC title game last season before the Tennesse Titans came to Baltimore and pulled off a shocking upset of the No.1 seed in the conference. On Thursday, Jackson was asked if he views Mahomes and Kansas City as his team’s chief competition—pun intended—to him achieving his ultimate goal.

“Yeah, eventually,” he said. “And they’re in our way right now, so that’s our goal.”

Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh told reporters on Wednesday that he and his team are embracing all the hype surrounding their Week Three matchup with the reigning champions on a national stage where they have been a perfect 12-0 with Jackson under center in the regular season.

While Jackson isn’t feeding into the rivalry narrative, he does relish in the opportunity to compete and beat the best. He admires what Mahomes brings to the table as a quarterback and is excited to see it up close and in person again.

“I’m going against a great talent like him – a guy who can throw the ball anywhere he wants on the field and make things happen each and every game,” Jackson said. “It’s very exciting – very exciting.”

Both organizations are first class and both quarterbacks are elite and still ascending. These two former league MVPs and Madden cover athletes will be battling for not only AFC but NFL supremacy for the next decade-plus as long as they stay healthy and their incredible franchise infrastructures stay intact. Whether Jackson likes or cares for the term rivalry or not, he and Mahomes are the textbook definition of rivals.