By: Justin Gincauskas
Win an incredible showing against the Miami Dolphins Sunday, Lamar Jackson has pretty much locked up the NFL MVP. Jackson threw for five touchdowns and had a perfect passer rating in a 56-19 Ravens beatdown of the Dolphins.
Entering Week 17, Jackson was the favorite to win the award, but he was far from a guarantee to win. Still in the conversation were names like Christian McCaffrey, Brock Purdy, Tua Tagovailoa, Josh Allen, Tyreek Hill, and Dak Prescott. However, it looked like the only possible players who could overtake Jackson were McCaffrey and Tagovailoa. Both would have needed Jackson to perform poorly in the last two games of the season to have a shot.
49ers’ McCaffrey had 64 rushing yards with no touchdowns before leaving Sunday’s game with a possible calf strain, which ended his hopes of the MVP. Meanwhile, Tagovailoa had a chance to put his name near the top of the MVP conversation with a big performance against Lamar Jackson. However, Tagovailoa was significantly outplayed by Jackson, throwing for only 237 yards with two interceptions.
Jackson finished Sunday’s game 18-of-21 with 321 passing yards. He also rushed six times for 35 yards. Jackson had three touchdown passes of at least 20 yards, which included a 75-yard touchdown pass to Zay Flowers in the second quarter.
After dismantling Miami’s defense Sunday, Jackson is now the overwhelming MVP favorite, sitting at -20000, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.
With Baltimore’s win over Miami, the Ravens secured the number one seed in the AFC for just the second time in franchise history. They will now have home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs and have a first-round bye.
If the Ravens decide to rest Jackson in Week 18, which they likely will do, we have seen the last of him until the AFC Divisional Round. Jackson finishes his MVP campaign with 3,678 passing yards, 821 rushing yards, and 29 total touchdowns.
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