Ryan Clark labels Lamar Jackson 'Russell Westbrook of the NFL' after Week 1 performance

On Thursday, Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens suffered a gut-wrenching loss against the Kansas City Chiefs in the season-opener of the 2024 NFL season at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

The visitors had seemingly put themselves in a position to attempt a game-winning two-point try with no time left on the clock after Jackson found Isaiah Likely in the endzone with a rope on the game's final play. However, replays suggested that an inch of the tight end's shoe landed out of bounds, rendering the pass incomplete and ending the game.

On Get Up ESPN, former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark flamed Jackson for missing two easy opportunities before the game's final play to find a teammate and cut the Ravens' deficit to one.

Clark noted that the quarterback's incredible stats mean little if he fails to make plays at critical junctures in big games, costing Baltimore a chance at victory. He even compared him to Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook.

"Lamar Jackson right now is like Russell Westbrook, right? We watch Russell Westbrook, throughout the regular season and even in the playoffs have these great statistical games, have this huge impact on what teams are doing," Clark said.

The analyst cited Westbrook's performance in Game 5 of the first-round playoff series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Portland Trail Blazers to explain Lamar Jackson's whiffs in big games.

"But you remember when he and Dame Lillard went head-to-head and it got emotional, he couldn't make a shot, right? Everything he was trying to aim, every time he was open, it was hitting the back of the iron. It wouldn't go in. And what did Dame Lillard do at the end of the game? Dame little side step shot the three, and he hit us with [the wave],” Clark said.

In the do-or-die game for the Thunder, Westbrook shot 8-of-27 in the final three quarters, including 2-of-7 in the fourth. In the game's final play, Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard banked an incredible stepback three-pointer from 37 feet to win the game and the series.

It was Westbrook's final game for the franchise that drafted him.

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Lamar Jackson claims Chiefs lucky he wasn't healthy during AFC Championship Game

After the loss, Lamar Jackson wasn't too concerned about the loss in the season-opener and instead spoke about last season's AFC Championship Game. He claimed that the result would've been different had he not been worn out and been able to rush the ball like he did on Thursday night. He told the Washington Post:

“How I’m feeling right now. I wish I was feeling like this, body-wise, in the AFC Championship. We would have won the game. I would have been able to move around for my guys. With me just hurting and can’t move, I know if my legs were good, we would have won that s**t. We wouldn’t have even had to throw the ball. F**k throwing the ball.”

In the Championship Game, the Ravens quarterback rushed for 54 yards on eight carries, a far cry from the 122 yards on 16 carries he managed in the season-opener.

Baltimore will be ecstatic about Lamar Jackson's performance and will hope that he can continue being as prolific on the ground as he was against the Chiefs.