Lamar Jackson has been an MVP candidate this season. Here is a ranking of his best games through 9 games of the season:
Stats were collected for this post at NFL.com
1. The season opener against Miami
All offseason long Jackson was the polarizing topic of conversation. Jackson’s detractors wondered if he could do it as a passer in the NFL. Jackson opened the season with a perfect passer rating of 158.3. He had 324 yards passing and five touchdown passes. He hit Marquise Brown deep down the field for a touchdown that may be his best highlight as a passer.
The thing that makes the season opener the best performance for Jackson is that it was such a quick answer to all the doubts people had about him. He barely ran the ball, because he didn’t have to. He may have been playing a bad Dolphins team, yet no quarterback has torched the Dolphins worse than Jackson. Jackson looked like a completely different quarterback and you could tell how much work he put in during the offseason.
2. Another perfect passer rating, this time against the Bengals
Jackson is the most exciting quarterback in the NFL and he proved that with what is probably the best spin move of all time. On an touchdown run, Jackson may have produced the best highlight of the entire NFL season. It was a once in a lifetime play and it wasn’t the most impressive thing about his performance. Jackson went 15-17 passing for 223 yards and three touchdowns. Jackson had 65 yards rushing just to top it off. This was one of the best games any quarterback has ever played.