The Ravens have an elite quarterback
Throughout the offseason, and particularly through the first four weeks of this season, the conversation concerning quarterbacks vying for consideration among the Brady’s, Rodgers’, and Mahomes’ had largely disregarded Jackson.
Josh Allen and Justin Herbert have undoubtedly earned their spot among those players, showing this season they are at the level which clearly separates them from every other QB in the NFL.
Meanwhile, Jackson is kept outside this group, largely due to his passing ‘inability’.
Jackson cemented his place in the very top quarterback group in Week 5. To use Daniel Jeremiah’s and Bucky Brooks’ phrase, Jackson showed the world he is very much a truck, not a trailer.
That’s our trucks vs trailers theory on QBs. Trucks can carry the team while trailers are highly dependent on everything around them & are pulled to the destination. Very few trucks in the NFL. cc @BuckyBrooks #MTSPodcast https://t.co/VMJgNPXuAV
— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) January 31, 2021
The Ravens were poor on Monday night. The offense could not move the ball on the ground, including Jackson, the team made far too many individual errors, and the defensive performance was, on the whole, beyond poor.
The Ravens should not have won, and frankly had no right doing so.
Except, they had Lamar Jackson.
The Ravens always have a chance with Lamar Jackson
It’s not difficult to remember any number of games a team lost because of the actions of a particular QB, yet again, just being better.
Whether that QB was Brady, Peyton Manning, Rodgers, Brett Favre, Mahomes, or several others, time and time again, these teams’ quarterbacks led them to victories which left the opposition bewildered as to how and when, exactly, did they lose the game.
These quarterbacks are the trucks of the NFL. Lamar Jackson is now comfortably among them.
By virtue of the totality of his threat, Jackson had already shown he can win any game, and he had already shown he was an elite player. Now, Jackson has shown he is an elite passer of the football, too.
Lamar Jackson is the most valuable player in the NFL, and for the first time in franchise history, the Baltimore Ravens have a truck, and he is unlike any ever seen before.