Can you really throw?

Is he really an NFL quarterback?

Can he handle the pressure?

That was something you talked about in the biggest moments.

Did he finally silence his critics?

No.

But he did, as you mentioned.

Get the monkey off his back.

You know that My criticism of Lamar my biggest criticism was that I mean, he silenced me in this respect.

My biggest criticism was not that he couldn't beat good teams or pass the ball.

You know, for his age.

At age 21 age 22 he passed the ball very well by NFL historical standards, right?

Who else at his age passed the ball better?

No, my credit.

And by the way, he beaten plenty of good teams.

My criticism was he never beat the teams he had to be.

When the light shine brightest, the Ben Roethlisberger Steelers he lost to own one.

The Chiefs.

You're in the A F.

C.

You gotta be the Chiefs.

Oh, and three.

And in the playoffs.

He was going to in particularly in the first game, played poorly and even last year put up numbers.

But was not his normal, excellent self.

He was a little bit less than that.

But when he had to be great, he was great.

So in that sense, he showed he can win a playoff game.

But Stephen A.

The critics will remain, because the criticism is this.

Ah, player with Lamar Jackson style meaning.

He's not a pocket passer.

He's not gonna beat you, you know, with precision passing.

He's going to do it with his legs.

In the moment of truth, that style player can't win a Super Bowl.

Stephen A.

I don't think that's true.

I think he can.

But that's gonna be the criticism.

And until Lamar Jackson makes a deep playoff run, that criticism will remain.

Can a zoo?

Matter of fact, it was huge that he won that game, but in the history of the NFL has a guy with that style.

No one's like Lamar, right?

But a guy with that style ever won a Super Bowl, and until he makes that deep playoff run, that criticism will continue.

You're wrong and the reason why you're wrong is because all of those questions they can remain in the perpetuity.

It doesn't matter.

The bottom line is he was the storyline because he was oh, and two in the postseason and he had played awful.

That's the bottom line.

We are everything that you just said about him.

We've always known you have talked about it ad nauseum, so even you recognize what he brought to the table.

But in the end, if he were not going to, he would not have been the storyline that he is the fact of the matter.

He's no longer Oh in anything in the postseason.

He's got his first postseason victory, and even though he didn't necessarily do it with his arms because he only through 479 yards, it wasn't a lights out performance with his arms.

It certainly was with his legs.

Those are you know, that touchdown run was absolutely sensational.

As John Harbaugh, John Harbaugh pointed out.

We gotta give him credit for that.

Obviously, he had a couple of two other key runs, particularly the last one to go out.

You know that basically sealed the deal when he rushed for about 33 yards and just sat down on the field and didn't run out of bounds.

So the clock could continue to run.

The guy ended up running for 136 yards for the game.

He did this similarly last year in the postseason against Tennessee.

There's no surprise, because they've got the Baltimore Ravens have the number one running attack in football because of Lamar Jackson.

We get all of that, But in the end, Tennessee is a pretty damn good team.

Andi, for him toe produce the way that he produced, particularly when the defense played the way that they played in shutting down Derrick Henry in neutralizing or actually re exposing Ryan Tannehill.

You can't say enough about the Ravens, and you can't say enough about Lamar Jackson to know all of that stuff was on his shoulders coming into the game and for him to answer the call the way that he did.

He deserves major props.

Major credit for it.

I'm not saying you're saying otherwise.

I am saying this.

In the end, when it comes down to the question about silencing his critics, it's about the criticism, the criticism Waas he did not win come postseason time.

That is no longer the case.

Now he'll be judged and picked apart like any other quarterback would be, but won't.

What won't be in the narrative is that the man can't win a playoff game because he did that well.

There are at least two criticism.

Stephen A.

As you know, one is Can he win a big game?

A playoff game?

Yes, But to me it was just the games he had to win.

He did that.

That is true, right?

He did that.

That is true.

That does get that monkey off his back.

It silences that criticism from guys like me.

Can he do it?

Not saying he couldn't.

But canny.

But Stephen A.

You are the one with the criticism about the thrower off the football you have is, you would say religiously brought this point off that for a quarterback, in order for you to really believe in that dude, the Super Bowl capable guy, he has to be a thrower off the football now.

Lamar Jackson did some very nice things in that game, even as a throw of the football.

The best was when he used his legs to escape pressure, scrambles and and then completes the pass to Mark Andrews, right?

That's a pretty pass.

It was a pretty play.

But until he does that consistently, to the point that Stephen A.

Smith isn't bringing this very point up about Lamar Jackson, can you win a Super Bowl?

Can you do this?

And Stephen A.

Is gonna be sitting there going, I don't believe in him as a thrower of the football.

You see, that is the criticism that he has not silenced.

We'll see.

Here's where you're wrong.

The critics it pertains to the specific criticism aimed in his direction coming into this weekend's game were I'm still got still got questions about him throwing the football.

I still don't believe he's gonna be able to throw the football is effectively as you need him to to be the Patrick Mahomes.

I understand that you know you can't rest your case.

You could rest your voice because it's not helping you.

But you can't rest your case because in the end, what it comes down to is this.

If you recall, if you recall the criticism Waas, the man can't win a playoff game.

We didn't passwords.

We didn't sit up there and pick apart well, can he throw the football Can he do this?

Can he do that?

Not when it came to the playoff performance.

What we said is by any means necessary, no matter what it is, you being the exceptional athlete that you are being able to run the football is exceptionally, well, more so than better than any quarterback that has ever played.

You know, running the football.

Can you do that come playoff time yesterday?

That's exactly what he did.

That was the criticism from the critics.

You could sit up there and pick apart his game, which we will continue to through throughout his career.

But what we cannot say any longer is the man can't win a playoff game.

He did it.

He did it yesterday, and in that regard, all of us should shut the hell up.

Lamar Jackson showed up and handle this business.

We can't say he can't win a playoff game anymore.

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