Dan Orlovsky Calls Out Ravens Ahead of NFL Opening Night

ESPN First Take analyst Dan Orlovsky is wondering when Lamar Jackson will make his rivalry with Patrick Mahomes more even.

On the show Thursday morning, ahead of the teams' opening night clash, Orlovsky said Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens need to prove that they can beat the Kansas City Chiefs.

Jackson has faced Mahomes five times in his career, posting a 1-4 record against his AFC counterpart. The two met each year from 2018-2021, with Mahomes winning the first three by three points, five points and 14 points, respectively. Jackson's lone win in the series came in a thriller in Week 2 of the 2021 season when the Ravens scored 12 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull off a 36-35 victory. In their one playoff meeting, last season's AFC Championship, Mahomes and the Chiefs eliminated Jackson and the Ravens by a score of 17-10.

Orlovsky says something needs to change.

"At some point Peyton Manning had to beat [Tom] Brady," Orlovsky said. "At some point Phillip Rivers had to beat Brady, Big Ben [Roethlisberger] had to beat him... So the Ravens have to prove they can beat the Chiefs."

Orlovsky believes they can. A big reason they lost last year's AFC title game, he said, was because their running backs had only eight carries in the game for a total of 27 yards. Baltimore signed Derrick Henry this offseason to take some pressure off of Lamar's running game.

"At some point you've gotta get over the hump," Orlovsky said.

Thursday night's game will be the first time two quarterbacks with multiple MVP awards under the age of 30 will play each other. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:20 p.m. on NBC and streaming on Peacock.