Lamar Jackson pointed the thumb on Wednesday, and didn't mince words doing it.
The Baltimore Ravens quarterback threw four interceptions against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday and posted his worst single-game quarterback rating of the season (46.5) in a 16-10 escape of a win. And the 2019 NFL MVP is giving himself no pass for the performance.
"Bad passes, inaccurate, underthrown passes. That's all I seen. Bad reads," Jackson told reporters, via the team's web site. "I looked like a rookie.
"Ain't no excuses. I'm supposed to play Lamar ball and I didn't. … That was just a bad performance. Four interceptions. Hope that never, ever happens again. Not ever."
Jackson had never thrown four interceptions in an NFL game before Sunday. He leads the AFC North's top team, but he also leads an offense that has stumbled of late. Jackson also struggled mightily in his previous start, a 22-10 road loss at Miami on Nov. 11. He missed the Ravens' Week 11 win over the Chicago Bears due to an illness, giving way to Tyler Huntley for another dismal Ravens offensive output in a 16-13 win. Jackson is 7-3 as a starter this season, but his TD-INT ratio of 15-12 is concerning, as is the fact that with six regular season games left, he's already taken a career-high 30 sacks.
Jackson will try to rebound this Sunday against a Pittsburgh Steelers defense that is itself trying to rebound. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, whose team is desperate for a win at 5-5-1, railed against the Steelers’ effort in a blowout 41-10 loss to the Bengals.
Jackson, for his part, is looking only in the mirror.
"I let it fester. I need to feel that pain," Jackson said. "That's pain right there."
