The Baltimore Ravens have found their rhythm and their 35-10 win against the Buffalo Bills is proof. With Derrick Henry recording 199 yards on 24 carries and QB Lamar Jackson throwing 13-of-18 for 156 yards and two touchdowns, things looked great for the team. The Ravens QB didn’t need to do a lot, and this turned out to be a problem for many. Why? After all, the Ravens won the game.

Well, they may have controlled the game, but Lamar’s less-than-usual numbers would have perhaps spoiled several bets. However, the quarterback didn’t care and took to X to school people. “This is a “TEAM” sport I’m not out here satisfied when I threw for 300yds but took a L. If I throw for 50 yds and we WIN, that’s wtf matters. Yall stop commenting on our socials about the yds yall fan duel or parlays ain’t hit,” he wrote, and this seems to have impressed Shannon Sharpe.

After reading out Jackson’s tweet on Nightcap, Sharpe questioned, “Let’s just say Ocho [Chad Johnson], somebody got you in your parlay: ‘Ocho over/under a 100 yards. Ocho, you know, the touchdown, the parlay. Ocho scored, this guy scored’. So, you hit a parlay, you bet $50, and you got all these guys; Ocho is one of your guys and another guy is one of your guys and that thing hits for like 4,000. How much of that are you getting Ocho?”

Sharpe was simply trying to demonstrate how NFL players didn’t have anything to do with fantasy games or betting. They were there to give their best on the field.

“Y’all jumping on these guys time L like, ‘Hey man, you cost me my fantasy. Oh, you cost me.’ Bro, I didn’t play well enough and we lost the game. Why I give a damn about your fantasy more than I care about this game,” Sharpe opined.

Sharpe’s comments on Nightcap emerge from a financial standpoint. However, it won’t do any good if the Ravens lose and don’t make it to the playoffs, but Jackson plays well. Think of the season-opening game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Jackson threw for more than 270 yards and scored a touchdown, but the Ravens still lost 27-20. That was supposed to be the revenge game for their last year’s loss.

It was a roller coaster ride since the AFC Championship game. People want their favorite teams to win and not just accumulate stats. Sadly, it happened again in the week 2 game against the Raiders. Jackson threw for 247 yards and scored a touchdown, but the Ravens lost 26-23 to the Raiders.

Hence, Shannon Sharpe clarified that a QB won’t go onto the field thinking about a fan’s fantasy bet. “Lamar says, ‘I’m trying to stack as many dubs as I can. I want to have home field one more time and I want to see if I can do a step better than I did last year.’ That’s what’s going through Lamar’s mind. Lamar ain’t thinking about no fantasy.”

Go through any comment section of a football-related social media post from any major account. Plenty of people will tell you who they got on their fantasy and what their parlay was. Maybe it got too jarring for Lamar Jackson to read such comments.

Lamar Jackson hates ‘Fantasy BS’!

Lamar’s tweet that we discussed isn’t the only post he made about fantasy football. The same day, a fan replied to Jackson’s tweet about parlay and wrote, “I’m old, I hate all this fantasy B.S that has turned you all into statistics on legs for fans.”

The QB was quick to respond with “Me too.”

These two tweets attracted millions of views and while Jackson’s post comes from a mindset of winning games, it’s important to understand that the league has ties with major sportsbooks like Caesars, FanDuel, and DraftKings. In 2021, the NFL even signed five-year deals worth around $1 billion with them to make them their official partners.

In fact, as per the American Gaming Association’s survey in 2023, an estimated 46 million people bet on the NFL in the country. They also predicted that these numbers would increase in the future as the league has warmed up towards legalized gambling. All in all, Americans have wagered more than $115 billion on sports last year.

While the broadcasts are filled with advertisements for sports betting, players are not allowed to bet on the NFL or any other kind of betting while at team facilities.

Do you think Lamar Jackson was right about fantasy games? Let us know in the comments below.