NFL MVP stock watch, Week 8: Aaron Rodgers storms back
By Dustin Baker
4. Lamar Jackson, QB (Baltimore Ravens)
Last Week’s Ranking: 5th (+1)
Highest Ranking of Season: 2nd (-2)
2020 Stats: 1,135 Passing Yards, 10 Passing TDs, 2 INTs, 63.0% Comp, 99.2 Passer Rating, 346 Rushing Yards, 2 Rushing TDs
Jackson is in a strange spot for the MVP race, statistically speaking. His passer rating is somewhat “average” by good-quarterback standards in the modern-day NFL. 99.2 isn’t a mark to scoff at, but it is not superhuman like some of Jackson’s peers.
However, he remains a hybrid QB-RB (as much as that makes some folks cringe). It rinses out in the numbers. Jackson ranks in the top 20 for players in rushing yards per game. The Ravens run the ball to the utmost, so his style of play is conducive to John Harbaugh’s offense.
Baltimore also has just one loss — the Monday Night Football stinker to the Kansas City Chiefs in late September. Jackson wholeheartedly deserves MVP consideration, but his candidacy will slip and slide from week-to-week because other players — like Aaron Rodgers — have encountered some swings.
The 2019 NFL MVP’s meddle will be tested next week, though. Baltimore takes on its hated foe, the Steelers.