Former All-Pro betting against Lamar Jackson in AFC title game

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Former All-Pro is betting against Ravens QB Lamar Jackson in AFC title game

By Aaron Becker | Last updated 1/25/24

There are just three days until the highly anticipated AFC Championship Game matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

Former All-Pro CB Richard Sherman believes he already knows the outcome of the game and is confidently picking against QB Lamar Jackson.

"I'm betting against Lamar because I've only seen Patrick Mahomes lose in the playoffs to [Joe] Burrow and [Tom] Brady," Sherman said on "Undisputed." "I have not seen anyone else send him home with a loss. It's not about Lamar, it's about Patrick Mahomes has found a way to win these games."

Richard Sherman is once again betting against Lamar Jackson

“I’m betting against Lamar because I’ve only seen Patrick Mahomes lose in the playoffs to Burrow and Brady…it’s not about Lamar, it’s about Patrick Mahomes has found a way to win these games” pic.twitter.com/AvGFUc6fhf
— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) January 24, 2024

Sherman is right in the fact that Mahomes has only lost to Burrow and Brady in his postseason career. The two-time Super Bowl champion boasts an impressive 13-3 playoff record.

However, there's no reason Jackson can't become the third quarterback to do so on Sunday. The 2019 NFL MVP is the favorite to win his second such award this season and has the backing of one of the best defenses in the league.

Baltimore's defense has been dominant in 2023, allowing the fewest points per game (16.5) and sixth-fewest total yards per game (301.4).

In Mahomes' three postseason losses, fans watched late-game heroics by Burrow and Brady in AFC title games and a smothering defense in Super Bowl LV. Jackson and his defense certainly have the makings to do something similar this weekend.

Sherman didn't completely write off the Ravens but noted it would take a special performance to send Mahomes packing.

"It's gonna take a Herculean effort to send him home," Sherman added. "Usually to send him home, it takes something that you've never seen anything like."

That it will. Mahomes is 3-1 against Jackson in his NFL career. But Jackson seems determined as ever to reach his first-ever Super Bowl this year.

"Those guys are the former Super Bowl champions," Jackson told reporters. "And to be a champion, you gotta go through a champion."