The Baltimore Ravens as a team missed out on a trip to the AFC title game and potentially the Super Bowl.
During his team’s 27-25 playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills on a somber Sunday night in western New York, star quarterback Lamar Jackson bemoaned a long list of self-inflicted injuries that will always haunt the Ravens.
Buffalo wiped up Baltimore’s huge lead in total yards, 416-273, by winning the turnover fight 3-0.
Jackson held himself accountable for an interception and a fumble in Bills territory in the second quarter that Buffalo converted into a touchdown.
The turnovers tonight. You know we can’t have that s–t. We lost the game because of that,” he told reporters. “We were doing a fantastic job moving the ball, as you could see. Keep the f—ing ball in your grasp. I apologize for the profanity I used.
Baltimore’s night ended painfully when the Ravens scored a late touchdown with 1:33 left, bringing them within two points of matching the score.
And when Jackson lofted an easy toss to atar tight end Mark Andrews, who had lost a crucial fumble earlier in the fourth quarter, the Ravens seemed to plan and execute the proper play.
The pigskin fell harmlessly to the freezing turf of Orchard Park when the veteran squeezed the ball too soon after it had fluttered into his breadbasket.
Jackson and coach John Harbaugh declined to hold Andrews accountable for his two major mistakes, even though Jackson was critical of his team.
When Jackson stated, “I’m not going to put that on Mark,” “He has been fighting the entire season. All season long, he has been accomplishing amazing things. We don’t always get what we want.
One of the most well-liked players on the team is Andrews. He acted quickly to assist a woman in a medical emergency on a Southwest Airlines trip last year.
“Without Mark Andrews, we wouldn’t be here,” Harbaugh remarked. “Mark will handle it fantastically like he always does because he’s a high character person, he’s a tough person and he’s a good person.”