THE JOY OF LAMAR JACKSON, AGAIN YOUR MVP, NEEDS TO END WITH A CHAMPIONSHIP
He is 2-4 in the postseason and might struggle with Baltimore’s poor pass defense, as seen Thursday, and for all his prominent regular-season deeds, he needs to overcome Mahomes and win a Super Bowl
Long before he turned into Paintin’ Manning, long before he kibitzed about beheaded Marie Antoinettes at the Olympics, guess who couldn’t win a championship? It took him nine years in an early career that wouldn’t be covered by Nationwide Insurance. Finally, he checked off a Super Bowl victory in Miami, in a game I’m not sure happened because the Chicago Bears also played and Prince sang “Purple Rain” in a downpour.
But eventually, Peyton Manning triumphed twice. He did his ManningCasts with Eli and, perhaps, paved a highway for Lamar Jackson. He’s in his seventh year and is about to win his third Most Valuable Player award in the regular season. Thursday night, he reminded us that he’s still more entertaining than Saquon Barkley’s reverse hurdle over a defender, saving Baltimore’s icky pass defense with a perfect 158.3 rating and three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter.
In 17 games between September and the first week of January, we might be watching the greatest quarterback ever. His head coach, John Harbaugh, expects a more extensive coronation to eventually happen. Remember, the Ravens selected him 32nd in the 2018 draft. Executives with other franchises didn’t think he had the gumption to run an NFL offense. How many are picking up trash bins today, after Jackson beat Joe Burrow and Cincinnati in a 35-34 thriller and owns the league’s fourth-best passer rating through 10 games since 2000?
Tom Brady is first. Aaron Rodgers is second. Drew Brees is third.
Manning is, um, fifth.
“The vision that we have together is that Lamar Jackson is going to become and be known and be recognized as the greatest quarterback ever to play in the history of the National Football League,” Harbaugh said. “It's going to happen by Lamar, his work ethic and his brilliant talent, by all of us pouring into that effort, together as a team, teamwork, and by the grace of God and God's goodwill. That's how it's going to happen. And I believe it like we've already seen it.”
Trouble is, we haven’t seen it in the postseason. Jackson is 2-4 and has been passed in generational glory by Patrick Mahomes, who is trying to win his fourth Super Bowl and landed three MVPs in title games. Does he care if Jackson takes the lead with regular-season awards? Consider the barrage of non-stop Mahomes commercials compared to Lamar, who doesn’t have many. In the history of dual-threat quarterbacks — with most damage coming from his arm these days — Jackson is on pace for 4,537 passing yards, 915 rushing yards, 41 passing touchdowns and four interceptions. Outside the pocket, he has connected for nine scores in 2024. Those are unprecedented numbers for throwing and running. Did you see him glide past the Bengals, who lost him in a scramble dance as he tip-toed down the sideline for an astounding 10 yards?
Doesn’t matter if Jackson can’t beat the Mahomes and the Chiefs. In the AFC, they could be the best two teams again. Harbaugh might have to bump off his brother, Jim, in the early playoff rounds. But another test awaits in Kansas City, with Jackson aware of what must materialize to gain historical recognition.
“I'm not the GOAT. Tom Brady (is) the GOAT. Tom Brady (is) the GOAT,” he said of his coach’s assessment. "Yes, I believe that's motivation — I appreciate that. I'm still on my way. That's been the first box for me since 2018. I said that April 26 — whenever I was drafted — I said that, and I meant that. This is the highest level of the game we play. You've got to go out a champion, and that's what I want to be labeled as — a champion. (I don’t) just want to be labeled as MVP here and there. I want to be a champion.”
He will have to overcome a defense that makes Mahomes, Travis Kelce and DeAndre Hopkins grin. Burrow blew away the Ravens with explosives to Ja’Marr Chase, who had 11 catches for 264 yards and three touchdowns — two from 67 and 70 yards. Will Jackson have to outscore his own people, who’ve allowed 28 completions of 25 or more yards and yield the fifth-worst average yardage of 367.9? When trailing by 14 or more points in the fourth quarter, according to ESPN, he has won a league-high three times in four seasons.
“I was telling my guys on the sideline, ‘We have to score. If they score, we have to score — that's the type of game it's going to be,’ ’’ Jackson said. “We've seen that from the first snap, but I'm proud of my guys because we finished (and) we came through.”
His teammates think anything is possible, with a No. 1 offense that gains 440.2 yards a game. “MV3,” said Derrick Henry, whose backfield pounding only helps Jackson.
“We've got Lamar Jackson,” receiver Rashod Bateman said. “I (am not) going to lie to you — if (he’s) on the field we got a chance to win the game, period. Every single game, Lamar is Lamar.”
“He brings a different level of intensity and carries the team on his back week in and week out,” tight end Mark Andrews said. “And for us, again, it's belief, it's not quitting and understanding that we have the best player in the world and we're never out of it.”
The best player in the world? He’ll have to beat Mahomes and win a Super Bowl. Until then, we wonder if he should have represented himself last year in contract negotiations. His deal: $260 million for five years with $185 million in guarantees. Dak Prescott, lost in Dallas? He’ll receive $240 million for four years with $231 million in guarantees.
Short again. Yet the more we watch him, the more we root for Lamar Jackson. He also wants Tom Brady’s seven rings, and first, he needs one.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.