The Baltimore Ravens sure are getting a great year out of Lamar Jackson, but is the team’s real MVP actually its coaching staff?
The Baltimore Ravens are playing fantastic football. They are 7-2 on the season and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the 8-1 New England Patriots. New England may very well get home-field advantage in the AFC, but Baltimore is definitely in the mix for the top seed in its conference this season. They might even have the NFL MVP. Wait, who’s MVP (19:04)?
On this week’s episode of Stacking the Box, FanSided‘s Matt Verderame and Mark Carman, along with former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, discuss who is the key to the Ravens’ success. It’s easy to say that it’s quarterback Lamar Jackson, but Schwartz firmly believes that the team’s real MVP is the coaching staff.
“I know people don’t want to have this conversation because they want to attribute all the credit to Lamar Jackson, but the Ravens staff deserves credit for going all-in on this offense,” said Schwartz. “And again, we have not seen this offense work in the playoffs.”
Schwartz would go on to say that the only quarterback who has run like this for an extended stretch in the playoffs before was Colin Kaepernick with the San Francisco 49ers, leading his team to the Super Bowl in 2012 and the NFC Championship in 2013. Jackson’s ability to make plays with his legs has drawn comparisons to Kaepernick, but Jackson is a much more accurate thrower.
At the end of the day, yes, we do need to give John Harbaugh and his coaching staff a ton of credit for getting the most out of their star quarterback by completely catering the offense to his elusive, dual-threat skill set. Harbaugh looks like a genius, defensive coordinator Don Martindale has his side of the ball covered and offensive coordinator Greg Roman may have changed the game again.
Overall, we can give credit to both. Harbaugh should be in the running for NFL Coach of the Year. Not to say he’ll win it, but he’s certainly in the mix. Jackson is one of a few serious candidates for NFL MVP through Week 10. However, he does face tough competition from guys like Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks and Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers.
Here are a few other topics discussed on this week’s episode of Stacking the Box:
- Is Lamar Jackson the MVP right now? (14:02)
- Texans-Ravens odds (29:01)
- Do the Bengals get the No. 1 pick? (43:25)
- Geoff can’t wait for Texans-Ravens (47:22)
All this and more!
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