Lamar Jackson earns first playoff win as Ravens oust Titans

Lamar Jackson wasn’t sweating his career playoff record any more than he was fretting over falling behind the Titans early in Sunday’s AFC wild-card game in Nashville.

"I guess it’s what people have been saying," he said with a shrug, referring to being 0-2 in the postseason. "I wasn’t really worried about it. It’s just my third year in the league."

Now he won’t have to worry about it ever again.

Jackson led the Ravens to a 20-13 comeback win, zig-zagging through the Titans’ defense for an electrifying 48-yard touchdown run that tied the score at 10 late in the first half — coach John Harbaugh called it "the best run I have ever seen from a quarterback" — and icing the victory with a 33-yard run late in the fourth quarter. On that one, he had the presence of mind to give himself up inbounds to keep the clock running.

The reigning NFL MVP finished with 136 rushing yards, 179 passing yards and, yes, his first playoff victory after losses in his first two attempts — including last year’s upset loss to Tennessee at home in the divisional round. But while Jackson didn’t see the big deal in showing that he and his style of play can be victorious in January games, everyone else seemed to get it. That included those on his team.

Harbaugh gave Jackson the game ball in the locker room "for his first playoff win" amid cheers and dancing (including Harbaugh flashing some moves himself). Even those who, like Jackson, had never before won in the postseason recognized that it was deserved.

"I’m happy for myself," fourth-year safety Marlon Humphrey said of his first playoff win, "but I’m almost more happy for Lamar."

Jackson was a big reason for the fifth-seeded Ravens’ victory, but he was not the only one. The Baltimore defense bottled up 2,000-yard rusher Derrick Henry, holding him to 40 yards on 18 carries, none of which went for more than 8.

"It was a very strong effort," Harbaugh said, leaning heavily into the word "strong.’’

"He didn’t get momentum coming downhill and we were able to hit him with multiple helmets and take him back,’’ he added. "That’s what you have to do."

It was Henry’s lowest rushing total in any game this season.

"Physical, physical, physical, yeah, yeah, yeah," defensive end Derrick Wolfe said in describing the Ravens’ plans against Henry. "We set a goal to try to keep him under 90 . . . For us to accomplish what we did against a back like that, that’s a testament to show you the kind of guys we have up front on defense and on this team."

The Ravens took the lead for good at 17-10 in the third quarter on J.K. Dobbins’ 4-yard touchdown run. Marcus Peters’ interception of Ryan Tannehill with 1:50 left marked the last time the Titans touched the football.

To celebrate that takeaway, the Ravens gathered on the Titans’ logo for some stomping (and a penalty for taunting) as retribution for the Titans having "disrespected" the Ravens’ logo during pregame warmups in their Week 11 meeting in Baltimore. That previous incident nearly led to a physical altercation between Harbaugh and Titans coach Mike Vrabel.

(Afterward, Vrabel said little about Baltimore’s using his logo as a dance floor. "I coach the Titans, not the Ravens," he said.)

Jackson said those situations were why he hustled into the tunnel during the final seconds rather than lingering to shake hands with anyone from the Titans. "There wasn’t any reason for us to shake hands and stuff like that," he said.

All of which likely was one of the reasons Harbaugh, a Super Bowl-winning head coach, called Sunday’s victory his "best win ever." He added, "It had so much meaning for our guys."

None of it would have come about without Jackson, though. His runs against the Titans were more noteworthy than his dash for the exit. And after he threw a poor interception that helped the fourth-seeded Titans take a 10-0 lead late in the first quarter, his 48-yard TD run — the second-longest by a quarterback in postseason history — will live forever in Ravens lore.

"I dropped back and they zoned it," Jackson said. "I saw a lane and I took advantage of it and it was off the races. It just happened to be a touchdown."

It just happened to be a playoff win, too. For Jackson, both were nonchalant occurrences.

For everybody else, it felt as if they heralded an arrival.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.