Lamar Jackson wants to do whatever it takes.
That sounds like his mindset entering the 2025 season. It begins for the Ravens on Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills, and Jackson isn't simply focused on improving the finer details of playing quarterback or leading his team.
He wants to elevate everything.
"I say this all the time. [It's] everything," Jackson said. "I really don't have anything specific that I want to just get better at. I try to get better at everything.
"You can always critique your game and get better at something. You're getting older, and you've got to see where other teams are trying to stop you. So, you just try to get better at everything."
In 2024, Jackson's 119.6 passer rating ranked fourth all-time for a single season, and he threw for 4,172 yards, 41 touchdowns, and had just four interceptions.
Getting better at everything is going to be a major challenge for a two-time MVP coming off the most brilliant season of his career. But that's the world Jackson lives in, where great players reside. It's the same for Josh Allen, the quarterback who will be on the opposite sideline from Jackson on Sunday night, or for Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals.
They are the NFL's preeminent quarterbacks who are still chasing their first Lombardi Trophy. It's a team sport, but it's a quarterback-driven league, which puts them under the microscope, and the scrutiny is relentless.
Jackson verbalized his intention to bring a Super Bowl title to Baltimore on the night he was drafted. He knows the 2025 Ravens are talented enough to do it, and they begin the season as a heavy favorite among national pundits to win the Super Bowl.
However, Jackson can't enter a time machine that can fast-forward to February to see how the season plays out. Beginning his eighth year, Jackson has learned more about handling the long regular-season process. He sees the big picture, but he's staying in the moment with Week 1 on the horizon.
"You can't go to the Super Bowl without making it to the playoffs," Jackson said. "So, we've got to focus on Buffalo right now. We can't peak too soon. This is extremely early to be thinking about a Super Bowl."
Thinking about the Bills, Jackson hasn't forgotten the 27-25 playoff defeat in January that was a bitter pill for him to swallow. He had an interception and a lost fumble in that game, mistakes that negated his clutch play on a potential game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter.
Jackson's final drive of last season was an 88-yard, eight-play touchdown march in one minute, 56 seconds that brought the Ravens within two points of Buffalo. In icy conditions, Jackson completed 6 of 7 passes for 80 yards to five different receivers during that drive. On the 24-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Likely, Jackson bought time with his legs, calmly surveyed the field, and found Likely cutting across the middle.
Had the Ravens come back to win that game, Jackson's late-game playmaking would have been lauded. Instead, the season ended cruelly for Baltimore with Mark Andrews' dropped pass on the two-point conversion attempt, a bitter outcome the Ravens have been forced to accept.
While the Ravens remember, they're not dwelling on it. Jackson is itching to play against anyone on Sunday, and it won't be a revenge game for him. It's the start of a new season.
"I'm tired of playing against my team," Jackson said. "It's time to take our frustration out on those guys.
"It's just like any other game. I'm trying to win regardless. I don't look at any opponent. I always tell you guys this, I don't look at any opponent and [think], 'I've got to beat them.' I feel like we've got to beat everybody. I'm just locked in."
Jackson has never played with as many proven playmakers, nor has he felt more in command, entering his third season with Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken. Quarterbacks Coach Tee Martin has raved about Jackson's approach all summer, both on and off the field.
"He started training camp that way, speaking with the team," Martin said. "[There was a] private meeting where he spoke from his heart, and he's been leading that way every day.
"There hasn't been a day where his communication hadn't gone to the next level, his performance, his level of work, his level of everything. He has upped his game in a lot of areas, and I'm really proud of that maturation, honestly. I give him all the credit, though. He's growing at his own pace, and it's beautiful to see."
Jackson isn't making any bold predictions about what the Ravens will do this season, or how they will perform on Sunday. He'd rather show it than speak about it.
If Baltimore wins the Super Bowl, Jackson will consider 2025 his most satisfying season, regardless of his statistics or whether he wins his third MVP. He just wants Baltimore to be the last team standing, and the quest to accomplish that begins in Buffalo.
"I pretty much just let the play do the talking," Jackson said. "You never know. On paper – everything looks good on paper until you get out there on the field. So, I just find out while we're playing."
