Lamar Jackson is the MVP of the league whether he wins the award or not. Here is why he should be officially crowned the MVP of the NFL:
1. Nobody can replicate his success:
There is no quarterback in the NFL that can replicate what Lamar Jackson is doing for the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens offense offers a lot of things you’ve seen before. You’ve seen offenses operate out of the pistol formation. You’ve seen teams run zone-read options, and get creative in their run blocking schemes. The thing is that nobody has ever seen an offense where everything has come together the way it has for the Baltimore Ravens. The offense isn’t just tailored around Jackson, it’s growing with him. Nobody has ever seen a quarterback run for over 1,000 yards and throw for 33 touchdown passes in a season. The Ravens still have two games left.
Here’s maybe the best argument you could make for Jackson being the MVP. If the Baltimore Ravens swapped quarterbacks with the New England Patriots, Tom Brady wouldn’t make this offense work. You could put Brady, a quarterback with six Super Bowl rings in Greg Roman’s offense and it wouldn’t work. That doesn’t even need explanation, because you can’t picture that to save your life. Jackson on the other hand, he’d be able to make plays with the Patriots. It may be a less perfect fit, but Jackson’s abilities are borderline unstoppable.
Jackson is the turbo button for the Baltimore Ravens. There is a reason the Ravens have scored 40 points in five different games this season. There is a reason that the Ravens have a chance to tie their best regular season record ever when they play the Browns, this Sunday. Jackson is the only player who can do what he can do. Other teams can steal elements of the Baltimore attack. They can’t put it all together because Jackson is a one of a kind superstar that nobody in football can imitate.
2. He is a game plan destroyer:
On paper, the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers should have been able to stop Baltimore’s offense. These are the two defensive units that had the talent in the defensive front to even dream of ending Baltimore’s impressive win streak. The Bills and the 49ers had perfect game plans. They bottled Jackson up and Jackson still got the Ravens ahead of them. Jackson beat the Seahawks with nine completions and over 100 rushing yards. He’s beat the Rams with five touchdown passes. Jackson and the Ravens make you pick your poison. It doesn’t matter, Jackson is going to have production.
Teams have tried to stop the Ravens just about every way imaginable this season. They’ve tried having a quarterback spy on Jackson. It has for the most part failed. We’ve seen teams get killed in both man coverage and zone coverage. When the New England Patriots come into Baltimore with the number one defense and get absolutely smoked that kind of tells you everything you need to know. Jackson is the MVP because there is no on paper way to beat him.
Defenses almost have to hope that Jackson makes a mistake. The thing is, Jackson doesn’t do that very often. Jackson has six interceptions on the year and he had three of them in the same game. In that three interception game, Jackson still led the Ravens to an overtime victory in Pittsburgh. Jackson sees the field so well and makes the right decision on almost every play. He is great at deciding when to run the ball or let the running back take it. He’s great at finding plays to make with his arm and he’s great at finding the room to operate with his legs. Jackson is the MVP because he can beat you anyway he has to. He’s the most adaptive superstar in football.
3. He’s a great leader and a perfect teammate:
Jackson is one of the best leaders we have ever seen in the NFL. It’s early in his career and that is already a very true statement. Jackson never blames his teammates when things go wrong. Jackson always gives his teammates credit for his success. He is hard on himself and by holding himself to such a level of perfectionism, Jackson sets the bar for the entire team. Players love Jackson and Jackson appreciates everybody around him.
The chemistry of the 2019 Ravens seems to have that Super Bowl magic to it, and it starts with Jackson. Remember when the Ravens went for it on that fourth down against the Seattle Seahawks? That play has fueled a lot of this win streak. It wasn’t the beginning of the win streak, but it was the moment that Jackson made everybody believe that Baltimore could win it all.
Jackson is always quick to point out the things he can do better, even after a win where he played nearly flawless football. When Jackson fumbled against the 49ers he was almost too apologetic. He thought he had let his team down, which is ironic because his teammates know that he never could. There is a reason that Jackson’s jersey is flying off the shelves and Pro Bowl voting has loved him more than any other player. The reason is that Jackson is the easiest player in the NFL to root for.
Here is a player who scouts asked to consider changing his position. Here is a player who was told that he couldn’t throw. He leads the league in touchdown passes. Coming off a horrible performance in the playoffs, Jackson will quickly have another chance at postseason play. It’s a good bet that Jackson will prove his doubters wrong again, with a good postseason performance.
4. Great production as a runner and a quarterback:
He’s run for more yards than any quarterback ever has in a single season. He’s tied the Ravens franchise record for touchdown passes in a season. He’s had five touchdown passes in three different games. It’s hard to be more accomplished than Jackson has been this season. We’re talking about a player who has had two games with a perfect passer rating in the same year.
The have only been six games this season where Jackson hasn’t had multiple touchdown passes. There have been seven games where Jackson has had three or more touchdowns through the air. Jackson has only had six games in 2019, where he had a passer rating below 100. Only three of those games saw passer ratings lower than 80. In those games where his passer ratings dipped, he contributed strong production on the ground. Jackson’s completion percentage is currently sitting at 66.2 for the year. Jackson is a very efficient passer.
Jackson has rushed for 100 yards four different times this season. Jackson has rushed for at least 40 yards in every game, except for the season opener. In the first game, the Dolphins gave him no reason to run the football. He had over 300 yards through the air and five touchdown passes.
Jackson has fueled the most explosive offense in the NFL. Baltimore is the top scoring team in the league and they rank second in yards gained per game. Jackson has led the best rushing attack in football and has created an amazingly efficient passing game. Jackson is the MVP because he has taken a franchise known for defense and he has given them their first historically good offense. Ravens fans are in a completely different world than they ever have been and the MVP chants are getting louder each week (even on the road).
5. The most MVP moments:
What’s your favorite Lamar Jackson moment? It’s a hard question to answer, isn’t it. It’s like telling me what your favorite movie is; there are too many to choose from off the top of your head. Russell Wilson has had MVP moments. Has he had as many as Jackson? Absolutely not. Jackson opened the season with five touchdown passes and 324 yards. It doesn’t matter that he did it against the Dolphins, it was a wowing moment. In the second game of the season he had a clutch throw to Marquise Brown that won Baltimore a game.
In prime time games, Jackson has thrown for 11 touchdowns and has had a total of 788 total yards. By the way, the Ravens have only had three night games. Every time Jackson has been in front of a national audience, he has been the best player on their screen. While the Ravens were once ignored as much as possible during weekly NFL highlight reels, Jackson is often the star attraction of them now. He’s the biggest star in the NFL and that’s why he got the most Pro Bowl votes this year.
Jackson makes history at a faster rate than the greatest of players. He against the Bengals he was the first quarterback to throw for over 220 passing yards and run for 150 in the same game. The Ravens are 10-0 in their last 10 games. Every week has become an MVP moment for number eight.
6. The teams the Ravens have taken down:
Other than the Ravens, seven NFL teams have clinched a trip to the postseason. The Ravens have beaten four of those teams. Other than the Ravens, eight teams have 10 wins or more. The Ravens have defeated four of them. The Ravens have taken down every team currently in the six AFC playoff spots with the exception of the Kansas City Chiefs. The biggest challenge facing Baltimore this season was the schedule. The fact that the Ravens have gone on this 10 game win streak and have beaten so many good teams tells you everything you need to know about the MVP race.
The Patriots have been struggling in the second half of the season; however they were considered Super Bowl favorites before the Ravens gave them their first loss. The Seahawks are likely going to be the number one seed in the NFC playoffs. The Ravens beat them in Seattle. The game against the 49ers was called a potential Super Bowl preview. The Ravens won 20-17 and the game lived up to it’s billing.
The Baltimore Ravens have dominated elite competition this season and they have only been challenged a few times. Jackson is the biggest reason for that. Jackson has been the best player in the league and he’s proven that he can get past any obstacle the NFL has in store for him. The reason Jackson is the MVP is that the Ravens have already shown they have what it takes to win a Super Bowl, they just need to the playoffs to roll around so they can get it done. The Ravens were not the sexy pick to win the AFC North. All of the sudden, Baltimore is the favorite to win the whole thing. Jackson is a big part of that.
7. He’s the story of the 2019 NFL season:
Lamar Jackson is the story of the 2019 NFL season. He just is. Jackson started as a polarizing player for sports talk shows to create a a hot debate about. The sports media questioned everything about him. They debated whether or not he could work in the NFL. Some pundits said it was unsustainable. Some questioned whether he could throw the football well enough to be the answer at quarterback, for the Baltimore Ravens. Others said it wouldn’t work against the good teams. Jackson’s doubters have just about run out of things to say and he is no longer a polarizing figure. There are still people that are not on board, but more and more it looks like they are just out for attention.
Reasonable people understand that Jackson is amazing and unlike any quarterback we’ve ever seen. The conversation is changing. Instead of asking if Jackson can do something, analysts are asking what’s next? Most of the fans who didn’t like the Ravens drafting Jackson and who wanted Joe Flacco to stick around have admitted they were wrong. The Ravens Flock is completely on board with everything Action Jackson. Ravens fans aren’t the only people that can’t stop talking about Jackson. Monday mornings all across the country are turning into “Did you see what Lamar Jackson did this time?” conventions.
Jackson is the story of the NFL season. He’s what everybody is talking about. Even people who thought he’d be a superstar in this league are blown away by how good he has been. Jackson proving doubters wrong and proving the Ravens right, has been the biggest thing we have learned this NFL season. Jackson should be the MVP of the NFL right now and it’s a fact that feels obvious. That’s the point here. It feels absolutely clear as day that Jackson should be the NFL MVP.