When Lamar Jackson and his Baltimore teammates boarded their London-bound plane, the star quarterback and the Ravens couldn’t have imagined the adoration they would get from English NFL fans ahead of their Week 6 game against the Tennessee Titans.
Only the Fourth MVP Quarterback to Play in London
Jackson couldn’t believe that the Ravens had such an avid fanbase abroad and was taken aback when he realized that people on the street recognized him. He told the Ravens website that he really enjoyed it when a few fans came to him asking if he was Lamar in a London accent and then took pictures with him.
Jackson admitted that he had only left the country three times and the match-up against the Titans enabled him to visit London for the first time.
The Florida-born former NFL MVP has so far played his home games in Kentucky, and, after he joined the NFL, in Maryland. When he runs out on the field at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in front of thousands of international NFL fans, he will officially be able to say he has become a global star. Only three other MVP quarterbacks have played in London before – Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, and Aaron Rodgers.
The last time the Ravens played an International Series game was back in 2017 when they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars 44-7, and their current quarterback was a junior at Louisville.
Ravens Hope Early Arrival Will Help Combat Fatigue
The Ravens left for London earlier than expected and it is thought they did this to minimize the effects of travel fatigue. That was not the case with the Buffalo Bills who departed for London on Friday and played their game only two days later. Unsurprisingly, they lost.
However, that doesn’t mean that the Ravens have all the time in the world to get acclimated, and Jackson, for one, is fast-tracking the process, saying on Wednesday that he expects to be fully acclimated “in another day or so.”
