Lamar Jackson: Monday night football hurt his bid for MVP repeat

The Baltimore Ravens have a lot of football left, but Lamar Jackson hurt his chances to be re-crowned the NFL MVP:

Patrick Mahomes didn’t just beat the Baltimore Ravens he made the case that Lamar Jackson shouldn’t be the NFL MVP for a second consecutive season. Mahomes was unstoppable against the Ravens. We’re talking 385 yards and four touchdowns against a Ravens defense that was supposed to give Baltimore an edge in this contest. It was a Monday Night showcase for both teams. The Chiefs took advantage of it. Jackson and the Ravens did not.

Jackson had only 15 complete passes. He had only 97 yards. He had almost as many running yards. Jackson fueled his doubters and if you hadn’t watched any Ravens football for a while, you’d think he was still the under developed passer that he was when he took over for Joe Flacco in 2018. While it is completely unfair to pin the entire loss on Jackson, it is safe to say it hurt his reputation.

The media as a whole had kind of come around on Jackson. After pundits like former Indianapolis Colts GM, Bill Polian’s pre-draft take on Jackson was ridiculed, after Jackson became the face of EA Sports, Madden 21, Jackson has refueled the doubters and the critics. More importantly he propelled the perception that Mahomes is far and away the best quarterback in football. The national audience saw Mahomes look like a combination of Brett Favre and Superman. They saw Jackson look like a rookie again.

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Jackson is a great quarterback. What the Ravens put out on the football field on Monday evening wasn’t representative of the team or Jackson’s progress. The truth is that Jackson got better over the last two summers. That was demonstrably evident in the first two weeks of the season. Pundits raved (pun very much intended) about Jackson’s ability to hit receivers on the outside and his increased accuracy.

That didn’t go away. Jackson had a bad day. The problem isn’t that Jackson regressed. It isn’t that he’s not a special quarterback. He’s the Ravens MVP and this isn’t his typical performance. The problem is that this is going to stay with him. This is what fans and more importantly MVP voters will remember. It also fits a narrative that Jackson can’t come back from behind and also that Jackson can’t win the big game. Mahomes is a Super Bowl MVP. At this point he may as well be named Mr. Big Game.

The Bottom Line:

There’s a lot of football left to play. Jackson just had a bump in the road. In a game against the Chiefs, where Mahomes was downright special, Jackson looked bad. He had his moments. The problem is that most of them came with him as a runner, which only fuels the misconceptions about him outside of Baltimore. The problem is this is a what have you done for me lately kind of league and this was a staining side by side comparison for Jackson.

If the MVP race comes down to Jackson or Mahomes, Mahomes just won it with the third Monday Night Football broadcast of the year. Russell Wilson may have something to say about the award when it’s said and done. One thing is for sure, the leading MVP candidate is the 2018 MVP not the 2019 MVP.