Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson put himself within the driver’s seat for the NFL MVP award on Christmas Day when he outshined San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.
He may need fully wrapped it up on Sunday with one other dominant efficiency within the Ravens’ 56-19 win over the Miami Dolphins.
The win locks up the No. 1 seed, a first-round bye and home-field benefit all through the AFC playoffs for the Ravens, and in addition offers them a possibility to relaxation some starters of their Week 18 sport in opposition to the Pittsburgh Steelers. It additionally may need secured Jackson’s second NFL MVP award.
Jackson was masterful on Sunday, finishing 18-of-21 passes for 321 yards, 5 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.
That efficiency offers him 24 touchdowns to solely seven interceptions for the season, and doesn’t even start to have in mind what he is ready to do within the working sport along with his toes.
That side of Jackson’s sport has all the time been a game-changer for him, however below first-year offensive coordinator Todd Monken the Ravens’ passing sport has actually began to excel whereas Jackson has performed among the best soccer of his profession.
The Ravens have now gained 10 of their previous 11 video games and have one of many league’s greatest offenses, averaging 29.5 factors per sport for the season. They’ve additionally scored a minimum of 30 factors in eight of their previous 10 video games.
What makes Jackson’s efficiency and all of these numbers so unbelievable is that Baltimore has had some main accidents on offense, together with a season-ending damage to star tight finish Mark Andrews, and does not actually have many impression gamers round him.
Rookie large receiver Zay Flowers seems like an rising star, however remains to be a piece in progress. After that, there are usually not numerous game-changers on that facet of the ball exterior of Jackson. He has put the offense on his again and carried it to the highest of the AFC.
It would nearly definitely make him a two-time MVP. Now the problem shall be for the Ravens to truly do one thing within the playoffs, which has been a significant wrestle all through the Jackson period and for the previous decade total in Baltimore.
