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Lamar Jackson challenges teammates at halftime, then carries Ravens to the AFC Championship

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BALTIMORE – They told anyone who would listen that this was a different team, that they had learned from previous playoff failures, that they were “stuck” in making a Super Bowl. Then, for the first thirty minutes of football Saturday on a frigid late afternoon in Baltimore, they looked like the playoff Ravens of the recent past.

Their attack was confused and overwhelmed by the blitz. Their presumptive MVP quarterback, Lamar Jackson, looked frustrated. Their special teams gave a game-changing punt return touchdown. The Houston Texans might as well have been the 2018 Los Angeles Chargers, the 2019 Tennessee Titans, or the 2020 Buffalo Bills. It was the same movie, just a different antagonist.

But the biggest difference between these Ravens and previous versions revealed themselves behind closed doors in a “tense” locker room. That's where a fed-up Jackson, who teammates say has matured and grown as Baltimore's leading man, told the room enough was enough. They didn't go down like that.

“There's something in him right now,” said Ravens wide receiver Nelson Agholor, who caught a 3-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. 'It's been in him all year, but there's really something in him now, and I'm there. I am there.”

No one seemed to want to reveal what Jackson said at halftime, when the score was tied and the offense came on three straight three-and-outs. A few offensive linemen said it was nothing new. They were already well aware of Jackson's passion to win. But Jackson admitted he was the one who did the nitty gritty talking at halftime, which isn't typical.

“A lot of cursing at halftime,” Jackson acknowledged.

The Ravens came out in the second half and chased the Texans off the field as a capacity crowd of 71,018 turned from antsy to jubilant. Dominating on offense and defense, the Ravens scored the final 24 points of the game to win 34-10, securing a spot in the AFC Championship and cementing M&T Bank Stadium on Jan. 28.

GO DEEPER

Lamar Jackson, Ravens ran away from Texans in the second half

The Ravens will play the winner of the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Bills on Sunday evening. It will be the first time the Ravens have hosted an AFC championship game in team history and the first AFC title game in Baltimore since the Colts hosted the Raiders in January 1971.

“This is the first step,” said Ravens coach John Harbaugh, whose team has not played for a conference title since winning Super Bowl XLVII after the 2012 regular season. “The next step is ahead of us.”

Harbaugh and some of his assistant coaches showed off the dance moves in the locker room after the game. It was a much different atmosphere than at halftime, when Jackson turned up the heat on the offense he was leading.

“I was (tense),” Jackson said. “We had no other choice: to attack as a unit. We just didn't score any points. Well, we scored once. Our defense turned out the lights, but we didn't respond. So we just had to dial in during halftime. Like Coach said, 'Get the ball out quick and let the defense play us fair,' and that's what we did.”

In the second half, Jackson led three consecutive scoring drives, with one 15-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Probably between 3 p.m 8-yard touchdown is run by the quarterback. It was vintage Jackson, making quick decisions and forcing the Texans to honor every part of Baltimore's offensive arsenal — including his legs — and not force anything.

After his final touchdown, which gave the Ravens a three-touchdown lead with 6:20 to play, Jackson ran straight into the tunnel. The show was mercifully over for the Texans, who gave up 229 rushing yards, 134 of which came in the second half.

Jackson became the first player in NFL history with over 100 passing yards, over 100 rushing yards, a over 100 passer rating and two passing touchdowns and two rushing scores in the same game.

“Thanks to Lamar,” said Texans coach DeMeco Ryans. “He made a lot of great plays. That's why he's the MVP.”

The Ravens' first touchdown drive of the second half covered 55 yards on six plays and lasted just under three minutes. The second was a 12-play, 93-yard drive that lasted just over seven minutes. The third consisted of 11 plays, covering 78 yards and taking another seven minutes.

It was the Ravens at their best in 2023, with the offense controlling the ball and the line of scrimmage while giving Jackson numerous options in the run and pass games. It was Mike Macdonald's defense that didn't make things easy for Texans rookie phenom quarterback CJ Stroud.

Stroud, who tore apart the Cleveland Browns' vaunted defense in the wild-card round, completed just 19 of 33 passes for 175 yards and no touchdowns. Houston had just 213 total yards and scored no offensive points — Steven Sims' 67-yard punt return was the only touchdown — after a late field goal in the first quarter. In two games against the Ravens this season, the Texans, with a quarterback likely to win Offensive Rookie of the Year and an offensive coordinator (Bobby Slowik) collecting head coaching interviews, did not score an offensive touchdown.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Baltimore's defensive effort was that it dominated the game without getting a single takeaway or sack.

“The defense was as good as it could be,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh and the Ravens coaching staff desperately needed this win. Wasting another top seed would have been cruel. Another divisional round loss as a major home favorite would also have revived any previous criticism of Harbaugh and the team's recent playoff performance, such as the home loss to the Titans after the 2019 regular season. Harbaugh's decision to draft some key players, like Jackson, in Week 18 when the team had already captured the top seed would have been ad nauseam.

The Ravens were a little off to start the game, at least offensively. But in the second half they looked the fresher and better prepared team. Halftime adjustments by offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who saw his quarterback blitz again and again in the first half, were a big difference in the game.

Monken was much more aggressive on early downs early in the third quarter. He gave Jackson more options in the quick passing game and worried less about creating chunk plays. In the second half, Baltimore had the answer to Houston's blitz. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Jackson was 13 of 18 against an extra rusher for 120 yards and two touchdowns. The 75 percent blitz rate he faced was a career high.

“They had success in the first half blitzing us, soft blitz and clean out,” Jackson said. “They did their thing, but we watched a lot of film. We were prepared; we just made little mistakes in protecting the blitz and getting the ball out on time. In the second half I felt like we did what we had to do.”

Jackson also desperately needed this victory. The prominent storyline going into the game was about how he had a 1-3 playoff record as a starter and seven turnovers in those four games. Can you imagine the reaction if Jackson had been outdone by Stroud? It certainly would have made all the talk in recent weeks about Jackson's growth and his “locked up” mantra sound like lip service.

Instead, the opposite happened. Jackson spoke up at halftime and challenged his teammates.

“I hear the message, not the words,” Ronnie Stanley said. 'I know what he's trying to say. He is a competitive player and wears his heart on his sleeve. He will say many things. I know what he's trying to achieve. We know what he wants, and that's just to win.”

Then Jackson took over in the second half. On one of the game's decisive plays, the Ravens had a fourth-and-1 at the Texans' 49. They led 17-10 with just over two minutes left in the third quarter. Jackson faked a handoff to Gus Edwards and had a bootleg from 14 yards. Five plays later, he connected with Likely for the touchdown.

“His personality: He's the Baltimore Ravens,” Agholor said. “He leads the right way: by setting a good example. But even when it is time to talk, people say it. And then he executes. … He doesn't just talk, talk, talk and go out and do nothing. He says what needs to be said, then goes out and executes.”

When it was over, Jackson was already ready to move on. And the Ravens, as they often do, followed suit.

“We have to finish it,” Jackson said. “It's still the play-offs. We're not dancing yet, but honestly, I'm looking forward to next week. I'm not even thinking about the Super Bowl until we take care of business.”

(Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

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