Lamar Jackson Says Ravens' Slow Starts Are 'Ridiculous': 'I Don't Understand It'

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson called the offense's slow starts "ridiculous" following Thursday night's 22-10 road loss to the Miami Dolphins.

"I don't understand it," Jackson told reporters.

The Ravens scored their only touchdown of the game when there was just over four minutes left in the Week 10 contest, and they finished with 304 total yards of offense.

Jackson completed 26 of his 43 throws for 238 yards (a lackluster 5.5 yards per attempt) with one touchdown and one interception in the loss. He added 39 rushing yards on nine carries (4.3 YPC).

At one point, the 2019 NFL MVP was shown passionately trying to motivate the offense.

"I was hot. We weren't scoring no points," Jackson said. "Our defense played a great game. I feel our defense played lights out. We just weren't getting it done on offense. That's why I was mad. If you were on offense, you'd be mad, too."

There were are variety of issues for Baltimore, which went just 2-of-14 on third down, allowed four sacks and turned the ball over twice. Its rushing attack, which averages 154.1 rushing yards and 4.9 YPC, finished with 94 yards on the ground on 23 rushes (4.1 YPC).

It also marked the third straight game the Ravens failed to score more than 10 points in the first half.

While an earlier five-game winning streak pushed Baltimore atop the AFC North, losses in two of the past three contests have created a ridiculously close division race with just one game separating first place from last.

Add in the fact the Ravens play five of their last seven games against divisional opponents and it's clear they need to get the offense firing on all cylinders again before the stretch run.

"Bottom line, this falls squarely on me as a head coach," head coach John Harbaugh said. "We were not prepared the way we needed to be prepared. Our schemes were not up to snuff. We weren’t prepared to execute the way we needed to."

The Ravens return to action Nov. 21 when they visit Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears.