T-3 days before the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs lock horns at the Arrowhead Stadium. Last time, the Ravens could not take off before the Chiefs defeated them in the AFC Championship game. Now’s a good time to avenge that loss, but Lamar Jackson admits that every game he plays is a revenge game regardless of the opposition.

“Any game I play in, I feel like it’s a revenge game,” Jackson said per the team’s official website. But surely, to beat Patrick Mahomes would mean ultimate satisfaction. Why? The reigning MVP’s 1-4 record against Kansas is not a good look. Though he has assured that he’s not just going to look at this game like a revenge game. “Anybody we play, no matter if we’ve beaten them or lost to them in previous years, I just want to win.”

It’s not lost what Jackson has achieved despite being under the shadow of Patrick. We say shadow obviously because of how the Chiefs signal-caller has single-handedly revolutionised how the position is being played. Yet Lamar has managed two regular season MVPs to his name. And it still is not enough to call him decent, let alone good. It seems you have to be the Patrick of QBs or else you’d be called mediocre.

Back in July, on The Stinkin Truth Podcast, ex-NFLer Mark Schlereth did not mince his words when he said: “You’re a two-time MVP and you piss down your legs in the playoffs… In the playoffs, you’re 2-4. You’re completing 57% of your passes. You’ve got six touchdowns that you’ve thrown six interceptions. Wanna talk about the definition of mediocrity? When it comes to playoff football, Lamar Jackson is mediocre.”

Uh-oh! Maybe, just maybe, there is a stink of truth there somewhere. But that does not provoke Jackson at all. He said he feels ready to go as he has been hitting it in the preseason with his teammates. However, he said “It’s time to go against somebody else.” And that’s the mentality, the attitude Patrick Mahomes loves about his counterpart.

Patrick Mahomes explains why Lamar Jackson is a “great quarterback”

Credit where it’s due. And Patrick is not the one to shy away from giving it even when it comes to Lamar. Instead, he holds him in high regards. “More than athletic ability and the ability to throw, is the way he competes,” Pat told the reporters following Sunday’s practice.

He further noted that Jackson competes every single week to maintain his fitness levels. “You can tell he wants to go out there and win and he wants to put it on his shoulders to take his team to where they can win as many games as possible.” Mahomes was not wrong here. Throughout the camp, Lamar has shown urgency to be his best possible version. With just one goal in mind: to win a championship come 2024. And to start things off with a bang against the team that hindered that chance last season, would just set a momentum to a new high.

“That’s truly what it takes to be a great quarterback in this league,” the Chiefs QB concluded. Hearing a word like ‘great’ to describe Jackson is quite on the opposite end of the extreme after Mark very boldly claimed ‘Lamar Jackson is mediocre’. But that’s MVP recognizing an MVP, for you.

Come Thursday, we would know who’s going to topple who. Sure, the odds favor Patrick Mahomes and Kansas, but when the stakes are high, you do not measure the outcome on the basis of odds. That’s a rookie mistake.