BALTIMORE (AP) — Lamar Jackson’s passer rating was bottoming out at 0.0 Kendall Sheffield Jersey , he’d endured a first half with a combined total of fumbles and interceptions (three) that was higher than his number of completions (two), and his playoff debut was shaping up as, in a word, a disaster. his rookie quarterback, and the team’s deficit in an AFC wild-card game against the Los Angeles Chargers grew and grew Sunday, fans near the home team’s sideline called for Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco to get a chance.That drew the ire of Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith, who let the spectators know he thought they were making a mistake during what would become Baltimore’s 23-17 loss to LA.“I’m standing there, and they were just like chanting Flacco’s name. I love ‘Flac,’ but (Jackson) got us here. So for the fact that you’re a fair-weather fan that quickly when things go rough — you turn your back on him? — that just got under my skin a little bit,” Smith said. “So I just went to them and told them, like, ‘Yo, you either ride or die or you get … out of here.'”A day before his 22nd birthday, Jackson became the youngest quarterback to start a postseason game, and aside from getting in gear late, he sure looked like someone not quite ready for the big stage. The Heisman Trophy winner from Louisville went 14 for 29 for 194 yards, two fourth-quarter TDs to make the score respectable, one pick, one lost fumble and two more fumbles recovered by Baltimore. He was sacked seven times.Asked about the fans’ jeering http://www.falconscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-john-cominsky-jersey , Jackson said: “No hard feelings. They’re looking for better.”Harbaugh said he considered making a switch to Flacco — “It was part of the conversation. Certainly thought about it. Certainly talked about it,” the coach explained — but thought the fact that Jackson produced a pair of scores late proved that keeping him in the game was the right call.“Lamar’s our quarterback going forward. There’s no question about that,” Harbaugh said, adding that he expects to return next season, too.While the Chargers (13-4) advanced to play the New England Patriots next Sunday, the AFC North champion Ravens (10-7) had their first trip to the playoffs since 2014 end quickly.Jackson led them there since replacing Flacco by going 6-1, thanks to a strong running game and the league’s No. 2 scoring defense. The sprint to a division title included a 22-10 victory at the Chargers two weeks ago. Rather than a harbinger, that game seemingly provided a scouting report for LA, the first club to face Jackson twice.In that regular-season win against the Chargers, Jackson threw for a career-high 204 yards and put up a 101.3 rating that was his best in an NFL start.It was clear from the outset Sunday this was not going to go as well. The Ravens fumbled on three of their first eight plays, two by Jackson and one by Kenneth Dixon. At halftime, Jackson was 2 for 8 for 17 yards passing. The Ravens had 69 total yards and a paltry three first downs.Baltimore finally scored in the third quarter via Justin Tucker’s 33-yard field goal after a 6-yard “drive” — that’s how far Jackson took the Ravens after C.J. Mosley’s fumble return. There were boos from the crowd of 70,432 after Jackson was stuffed for no gain on third down.That kick cut Baltimore’s deficit to 12-3. After a partial block resulted in an 11-yard punt that gave the Ravens the ball at the LA 40, another get-nowhere possession led to a field-goal attempt by Tucker, this one from 50 yards — and the most accurate kicker in NFL history produced his first postseason miss in 10 tries.The next Ravens drive featured a pair of sacks — and more boos. Flacco remained on the sideline, standing, his helmet on. After the Ravens trailed 23-3, Jackson tossed TD passes to Michael Crabtree from 31 yards with 6½ minutes remaining, and from 7 yards just before the two-minute warning.“I wasn’t playing my game today Qadree Ollison Jersey ,” Jackson said. “Only toward the end.”With one last possession in the closing minute, Jackson lost yet another fumble, sealing the outcome.“He fought to the end. Gave us a chance at the end,” Smith said about his teammate. “Came up short. But you see the heart he has.” INDIANAPOLIS — Frank Reich learned the value of an up-tempo offense playing in Buffalo.He figured out how to deploy it more effectively as an assistant coach.So with the Indianapolis Colts in an offensive funk Sunday, the first-year coach changed gears. He cranked up the tempo, wore down Houston’s defense and watched the Colts rebound from a 5½-quarter scoring drought to earn a critical road victory.“We know it’s a weapon, we know it’s an effective weapon, especially with the quarterback we have,” Reich said, referring to Andrew Luck.“To know that we can pull that tool out, that weapon out and use it in the proper way when we need it. I just think it’s really the right way to do it.”Indy (7-6) desperately needed a switch against the Texans — after their playoff chances took a major hit the previous week when Luck endured the first shutout of his career.It looked as if the Texans (9-4), winners of nine straight, might do it again when they held the Colts scoreless on their first four possessions. But then Reich threw a change-up that got Luck and his teammates back in sync.They scored three times in the final 7½ minutes of the first half, matched the Texans’ early second-half score and never trailed again.The victory allowed Indy to move into a four-way tie with Baltimore, Miami and division rival Tennessee for the AFC’s sixth and final playoff spot and gave them some needed momentum heading into back-to-back home games against Dallas and the New York Giants.The Colts close out the regular season at Tennessee.And with Luck rolling, the possibility of ending a three-year postseason absence is a real possibility. Indy already has beaten the Titans and Dolphins, potential tiebreakers, even though nobody around the Colts’ complex dare discuss anything other than this weekend’s showdown against the NFC East-leading Cowboys.“Looking forward to keeping that same mindset and attitude coming back home to Lucas Oil (Stadium) against another hot team in the Dallas Cowboys,” Reich said Monday. “So it will be a good test for us.”What exactly the Cowboys will see is anybody’s guess.Luck threw two more touchdown passes in Houston Rashan Gary Jersey , giving him 34 — second in the league to Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes (43). T.Y. Hilton caught nine passes for 199 yards, giving the Colts the deep threat they lacked in Jacksonville. Eric Ebron caught another TD pass, his 12th of the season and one more than Dallas Clark’s franchise single-season record for a tight end.But the lingering question is whether Reich intends to continue relying on the no-huddle offense that kept the Texans’ defense on its heels?“Believe me, I love the no-huddle, I have done the no-huddle for years as a player and as a coach. Even when I was here before with Peyton (Manning), we did it as well as anyone could do it,” Reich said.“We did a lot of really good things, but ultimately we just think that the best formula is to be multiple, to use all your personnel and to create some schematic advantages that you can do by huddling.”The Colts certainly have shown they can exploit mismatches.Luck has had more success than anyone in the league connecting with tight ends. Ebron is one of five guys to play the position for Indy this season and has produced a career-best season by finally living up to the billing of his first-round pedigree.Marlon Mack has, at times, given the Colts a solid ground game and Hilton remains a reliable threat in whatever he is asked to do.While the combination seems perfectly suited to cranking up the tempo as Sunday’s game demonstrated, Reich believes the Colts will be better off employing it at their discretion.“When you go no-huddle, T.Y. ends up at the same position all the time,” Reich said. “By not being exclusively no-huddle we can move guys around in positions. We can put T.Y. where we want to, we can switch personnel groups, we can put offensive linemen in at tight end to throw deep play-action shots that we put in, to have an extra offensive lineman in to do some stuff in the running game.”
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