What should we make of Lamar Jackson and the Ravens?

Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens started the season on fire, but a recent loss to the Cleveland Browns called their standing as contenders in the AFC into question.

The Baltimore Ravens stand a good chance of making it to the postseason in the second straight season under Lamar Jackson’s guidance at quarterback, but it won’t be smooth sailing. Baltimore dropped a critical rivalry game against the Cleveland Browns a couple of weeks ago, and they barely survived against another AFC North team in the Pittsburgh Steelers last week.

In Week 6, the Ravens needed to respond and beat the lowly Cincinnati Bengals, who are a real contender for the No. 1 pick in 2020, convincingly. Going into overtime, as they did against the Ben Roethlisberger-less Steelers, simply wouldn’t cut it.

Although Baltimore didn’t dominate, per se, their win was never in any real doubt until the very end. Defensively, the Ravens joined a long list of teams to embarrass Andy Dalton and the woefully underperforming Bengals offense, while they were solid on offense.

Jackson, once again, led the way for the Ravens. He ran for a whopping 155 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, adding 236 passing yards in a clean game through the air. While Jackson did more damage with his legs against the Bengals, he had no trouble using breakout tight end Mark Andrews to carve up the Bengals defense.

That strong performance adds to Jackson’s resume, as he is a real sleeper to win the MVP this year. Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, and even running back Christian McCaffrey have received real MVP love, but Jackson’s importance to the Ravens is just as clear. It’s hard to see this team being in the conversation as AFC contenders without Jackson’s crisp decision-making and electrifying rushing.

Jackson looks like the full package at quarterback for the Ravens, as there are no glaring weaknesses to his game in spite of the narrative that emerged in his rookie year that he needed to make significant strides as a passer. Even if that were true, Jackson has evidently made those improvements in 2019.

At 4-2, the Ravens are one of several teams squarely in the mix behind the New England Patriots in the AFC, and Jackson has shown that he can hang with the likes of Tom Brady, Mahomes, and Watson, who are established top-10 quarterbacks for those conference rivals.

After starting the season with zero interceptions in three games, Jackson threw five picks in just two games against his first AFC North opponents of the season. But in Week 6, Jackson avoided any mistakes with the football and posted his best yardage total yet as a rusher.

Jackson will get some help from the likes of Andrews and Mark Ingram on offense, as well as his strong defense. However, the Ravens can only go as far as Jackson carries them. Based on the flashes he’s shown this season, that could be “all the way”, but, since the Ravens nearly slipped against Cincinnati at the end, they need to show that they have the consistency as a team to be in the same class as New England, Kansas City, or Houston.