Of the many reasons to look forward to Sunday night's epic Baltimore Ravens-Buffalo Bills playoff game? It will mean that we can stop hearing about all that's on the line for quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen and enjoy a brief 3.5-hour reprieve from the takes before everyone rushes to adjust their personal legacy rankings. The two favorites for NFL MVP have done it all in their careers except prevail in the biggest, brightest postseason moments. That will change for the winner ... for a whole week until they once again have to do it again in the AFC championship game.
ESPN's Ryan Clark spoke about the situation on Friday's Get Up.
"This is a career-defining game before the legacy-defining game," he said. "It's not about who's the MVP. It's about who shows up best for their team in that moment."
"This is a career-defining game before the legacy-defining game. ... It's not about who's the MVP. It's about who shows up best for their team in that moment."
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) January 17, 2025
—@Realrclark25 on Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen's upcoming playoff matchup 🍿 pic.twitter.com/2PhcP4xiPY
Clark added that whoever wins the game will get another chance to vanquish the boogyman—which in this case is Patrick Mahomes. Those are the breaks when there's three elite quarterbacks in the AFC. Barring some sort of upset two of them were going to have to square off before a Super Bowl berth was on the line and the Chiefs getting the No. 1 seed insulated Mahomes from having to do it against Jackson and Allen in back-to-back weeks.
Again, if you're keeping track at home: first it's the career-defining game, then the legacy-defining game. Truly a special time of year.
More of the Latest Around the NFL
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ryan Clark Identifies Rare 'Career-Defining Game Before Legacy-Defining Game' Situation.
