Coming up short of advancing to the Super Bowl last season left players with a ‘bitter taste’ in their mouths and a chip on their collective shoulders.
After steamrolling several of the best teams in the league from both conferences down the stretch of the 2023 season and through the divisional round of the playoffs, the Baltimore Ravens came up short of advancing to the Super Bowl in the AFC Championship.
Despite moving the ball well on offense for most of the game and pitching a shutout in the second half, they weren’t able to avoid crucial mistakes in key moments and ultimately fell 17-10 to an inferior Kansas City Chiefs team many pundits called the most flawed of the Patrick Mahomes era.
The stunning defeat still resonates with the Ravens’ returning players and served as fuel during their time away prior to returning for voluntary workouts and Organized Team Activities.
“I believe that just motivated us throughout the whole offseason,” quarterback Lamar Jackson said Wednesday in a press conference. “People are still talking about it; us players still talk about it. It definitely left a bitter taste in our mouths just being that close. We worked so hard in getting there and didn’t do what we wanted to do, didn’t fulfill our dream. Definitely a little chip on our shoulder.”
The Ravens had what many believed was the most complete team in the league last year and certainly the best of Jackson’s tenure as the face of the franchise, which helped propel him to earning his second career league MVP honors. Jackson admitted to believing that coming up short a game shy of making the Super Bowl hurts even more than losing in the big game itself because of all the work the team put in to make it to that point.
“We worked so hard for 17 weeks, plus the little playoff games, and we get to a game away and lose,” Jackson said. “We didn’t really put any points on the board, and we were just scoring 30 points against crazy teams — great defenses. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a great defense as well, but we had played the top-ranked defenses. We just have to finish. We have to find a way to move the ball in the right direction and put points on the board because our defense did their thing the whole night.”
Third-year All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton reflected on the experience and the fact they made it to the team’s first conference title game in over a decade as “something to look back on and be proud of.”
“Obviously, we didn’t have the result that we wanted, but I mean, getting that close and knowing that you have the capabilities to do it and were two, three plays away from going to the Super Bowl – and who knows what would happen in that game,” Hamilton said. “I think you’ve got to cherish those seasons [and] stuff like that and build on them.
“I think you take seasons like that, that are rare – for a team to go to the AFC Championship – and you cherish it, but at the same time, we all have that bitter taste in our mouth, and we want to right our wrongs and ultimately win a Super Bowl. So, I think going on this path and having that experience is going to help us.”
One of the Ravens players who took the loss the hardest because of several pivotal plays and mistakes he made was second-year wide receiver Zay Flowers. The 2023 first-rounder had the most productive game of his standout rookie season against the Chiefs with five catches on eight targets for 115 receiving yards and a touchdown but he also drew a bone-headed taunting penalty and fumbled the ball before crossing the goal line in the second half.
Zay Flowers on the AFCCG loss:
“I still ain’t get over it.” pic.twitter.com/akvWvYuMB2
— Kyle Phoenix (@KylePBarber) May 22, 2024
“Honestly, I still [haven’t] gotten over it,” Flowers said. “I still think about it, but I know next year we have a chance to get back there and try to make it to the Super Bowl. That’s why I’m working hard every day and going hard every day to get back to that moment.”
The Ravens won’t have to wait long to try to exact some semblance of revenge over the defending Super Bowl champions as the two titans of the AFC and NFL as a whole will faceoff with each other in the 2024 season opener. However, Flowers is more focused on improving and refining his own craft than he is on trying to redeem himself for past mistakes.
”Honestly, I’m not really worried about them,” Flowers said. “I’m worried about getting better every day and making sure we’re ready when that time comes. So, it’s just been about us, really.”
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said the team doesn’t forget or forgive but aren’t letting last year’s shortcomings get in the way of trying to strive towards this year’s goals.
“It’s always going to be part of it,” Harbaugh said. “That’s why I want them talking about everything. What we’re talking about is confronting everything that has to do with us being the very best we can be as a football team and as an individual player. So, if that’s part of the confrontation, ‘Let’s go, man. Let’s talk about it, and let’s get better, and let’s find a way to beat those guys.’”
While Week 1 can’t get here fast enough, beating the Chiefs in September won’t mean much if they can’t repeat the feat if and when the time comes in late January, which it likely will given Kansas City has appeared in every AFC championship game since 2018.