Lamar attributes playoff woes to being ‘too antsy’

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — If Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has learned anything from his playoff struggles, it’s to remember to keep his emotions in check when the stakes of the games increase.

“I’d just be too excited,” Jackson said after Tuesday’s practice. “That’s all. Too antsy. I’m seeing things before it happened, like, ‘Oh, I got to calm myself down.’ But just being more experienced, I’ve found a way to balance it out.”

As the Ravens play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a wild-card game Saturday, Jackson will look to overcome his postseason disappointment. The two-time NFL Most Valuable Player is 2-4 in the playoffs and has never reached the Super Bowl in his previous six seasons.

The issue with Jackson has been turnovers. In six playoff starts, he has thrown six interceptions and has lost three fumbles.

“You got to try to be mistake-free,” Jackson said. “The game’s won with the turnover battle and keeping the ball in your control, moving the ball down the field, getting first downs, putting points on the ball. Obviously, that’s how you win those games.”

Jackson doesn’t think about the playoff losses from earlier in his career because he feels he was too young. There’s only one postseason defeat that repeatedly comes to mind — last season’s 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game.

“That’s probably the only playoff game I do think about,” Jackson said. “It was right there. But my mind, I’m focused now, though. It is what it is at this point.”

What does he think about from that AFC Championship Game?

“We lost it,” he said.