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Stephen A.: More pressure on Lamar to reach Super Bowl than Josh Allen (1:02)
Stephen A. Smith breaks down why he feels Lamar Jackson has more pressure to reach a Super Bowl with the Ravens than Josh Allen does with the Bills. (1:02)
Jamison HensleyJul 31, 2025, 12:29 PM ET
- Jamison Hensley is a reporter covering the Baltimore Ravens for ESPN. Jamison joined ESPN in 2011, covering the AFC North before focusing exclusively on the Ravens beginning in 2013. Jamison won the National Sports Media Association Maryland Sportswriter of the Year award in 2018, and he authored a book titled: Flying High: Stories of the Baltimore Ravens. He was the Ravens beat writer for the Baltimore Sun from 2000-2011.
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Lamar Jackson solidified himself as the best running quarterback last season when he surpassed Michael Vick for the most career rushing yards at that position.
But Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh believes Jackson should also rank among the all-time greats in throwing the ball, too.
"He is a historically good passer," Harbaugh said Wednesday on ESPN's Kevin Clark's "This is Football" show. "And that's really quite a statement because of the narrative that's been surrounding him ever since the beginning. Lamar Jackson can throw the football. He can throw it every kind of way, he can make every kind of throw any kind [of] way you want. He's as good as any passer that there's ever been -- and I think now the numbers are proving that."
Harbaugh added, "So that's the thing I'm kind of a little bit proud of, but [I'm] also a little bit like, 'OK, here we go, what have we learned from that?' You can take any big picture -- from a society standpoint, from a football standpoint -- what did we learn from that? And what kinds of questions do we ask ourselves? But, Lamar Jackson as a passer is historically great."
Last season, Jackson became the first player in NFL history to throw at least 40 touchdown passes and fewer than five interceptions in a season. His passer rating of 119.6 last season ranked as the fourth highest in league history.
Jackson's four games with a perfect passer rating (158.3) are the most ever in the NFL. He has also totaled seven career games in which he has recorded more touchdown passes than incompletions, which are the most in NFL history.
Harbaugh was asked how Jackson got to this elite level.
"I'd say the work that you do -- if you're going to be good at anything, great at anything, you've got to work at it all the time," Harbaugh said. "I read a story just recently about a classical piano player, he's 95 years old, and he's working six to eight hours a day on playing the piano, and they ask him, 'Why do you still work six to eight hours on the piano?' And his comment was, 'I feel like I'm just starting to make some progress.
"So, that daily, everyday working at your craft kind of thing, I think, is what Lamar does."
