Lamar Jackson wasn't too pleased with his four interceptions during Sunday night's 16-10 win over the Cleveland Browns and watching the tape this week didn't make him feel any better.
The Ravens' superstar quarterback was hard on himself when speaking to the media Wednesday.
"Bad passes, inaccurate, underthrown passes. That's all I seen. Bad reads," Jackson said. "I looked like a rookie."
Jackson did not blame his poor performance on being rusty after an illness that forced him out the Week 11 game in Chicago. It had been 17 days since he played and the previous time was another rough day in Miami.
"Ain't no excuses," Jackson said. "I'm supposed to play Lamar-ball and I didn't. … That was just a bad performance. Four interceptions. Hope that never, ever happens again. Not ever."
It was the first four-interception game of Jackson's NFL career. He had only once thrown three interceptions, which coincidentally happened in Pittsburgh in 2019. In four career games against the Steelers, Jackson has five picks and a 59.2 quarterback rating.
Jackson will now prepare to go to Heinz Field and have a much better performance, but he first had to get over his worst game as a pro.
"I let it fester. I need to feel that pain," Jackson said. "That's pain right there."
Jackson has nine interceptions over his past five games. On Monday, Head Coach John Harbaugh said the Ravens won't take a "macro" approach to correcting Jackson's picks.
"Every week is a different week," Harbaugh said. "We're not trying to look at some grand answer or some psychological diagnosis about one thing or another. It's not about all of that. It's about playing a very competitive game for three-and-a-half hours, preparing for the week to do it, and doing the best you can [to] play your best game. That's really all you can do."
Baltimore's offense has slowed the past three weeks, averaging just 14 points and 302 yards per game. Those marks would put the Ravens last in the league in points and 29th in yards if extrapolated to the entire season. Of course, part of that was because Jackson didn't play in one of the games.
The usually vaunted Steelers defense is coming off a blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and is ranked 25th in the league. Jackson and the Ravens are hoping to get cranking once again, knowing that Pittsburgh still has a lot of talent to contend with.
"We know it's going to be an intense game, a very physical game like it always is. I'm ready," Jackson said. "We just need to do us. It'll start back soon. It needs to right away. Hopefully this week, it'll start."
