In their AFC Divisional Round victory over the Texans on Saturday, the Ravens pitched a 24-0 shutout in the second half, but it was far from an easy day for Baltimore.
Despite being double-digit favorites, the Ravens found themselves tied with the Texans 10-10 at halftime.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson felt the urgency at halftime and was compelled to motivate his No. 1-seeded team going into the third quarter.
Asked who did the talking at halftime, the 2023 MVP favorite said that he did, literally pounding his chest.
“A lot of cursing at halftime,” Jackson offered after the game. “It’d be inappropriate if I said it right here. It would.
“We wasn’t really doing anything to that defense, you know, they was playing great. And that offense was playing great as well,” he continued of the Texans. But we wasn’t doing our job with our unit in the second half. We went to put up points on the board, started moving the ball, moving the chains, and started looking like ourselves.”
The Ravens went on to steamroll the upstart Texans 34-10 and await the winner of Sunday’s showdown between the Chiefs and Bills to host them in the AFC Championship game next weekend.
Next week will mark the Ravens first AFC Championship game appearance since 2013, the year that also marked their most recent Super Bowl victory.
The Ravens are 2-2 all-time in AFC title games, and in both wins, they went on to win the Super Bowl.
In their win over the Texans, Jackson completed 16 of 22 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns while also recording 11 carries for 100 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Jackson was responsible for all four Ravens touchdowns.
