The road to “MVP candidate” Lamar Jackson could not have been predicted by anyone other than Jackson himself. After refusing to run the 40 yard dash to show teams a positional change is not an option. A guy dripping in confidence that went under the radar and was doubted by many.. Never even considered to be in the top 3 QB’s in the eyes of “Draft Experts”.

Lamar Jackson entered the league with an instant chip on his shoulder, coupled with extreme, yet quiet confidence to prove them wrong

After suffering the disappointing playoff loss to the Chargers, National pundits everywhere were convinced the Chargers created the blueprint of how to stop the unconventional offense ran by the unconventional rookie signal caller,. Many ironically coined Lamar Jackson as a “running back that is asked to throw sometimes”

Week one of the season, instantly silenced his critics by showing us how hard he’s worked towards fine tuning his game. All he did was throw for 5 touchdowns on 17/20 passing with not a single turnover, which plagued him in 2018. His best game did come against the tanking dolphins, but he did exactly what top tier QB’s are asked to do. Beat the snot out of bad teams. Jackson is merely 22 years old and has much more room to grow. That should scare the rest of the NFL.

Going into the bye, Lamar Jackson is putting up “Madden-Like” stats:

1.He has more passing yards than Carson Wentz.(1,650 yards)

2.He has a better completion percentage than Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford, and Baker Mayfield (63.3)

3.He has a better QBR than Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers (66.9 out of 100)

4. He trails arguably the best running back in the NFL, Zeke Elliott in rushing yards by 26 yards and has more yards than 2018 Top 5 rusher Chris Carson. (576 yards)

5.In the Ravens current 3 game winning streak, Jackson leads the NFL in rushing.with

6. Jackson single handedly has more total yards than 14 NFL teams.

7. Jackson is on pace for 1,227 yards rushing which would be a record, 3,771 yards passing.which would put him just under 5,000 total yards.

So much for that “blueprint” the Chargers created...

What makes Lamar Jackson an incredible quarterback can't only be measured by stats

In Seattle, backed up on their own 12 yard line, Lamar Jackson breaks off a 30 yard run on a ​ ​ crucial 3rd down in the fourth quarter. The best part? There was a linebacker spy by one of the best middle linebackers in the NFL in Bobby Wagner. Just like in the weeks prior, the opposing team’s post game presser is filled with shock and awe over how dangerous and difficult to contain the young QB is. You simply cannot teach the pure playmaking instincts that Lamar Jackson possesses.

In crunch time of the same game, the Ravens faced a 4th down and 2 in the Seahawks red zone. The field goal unit starts to trot onto the field. John Harbaugh turns to Lamar Jackson and says “Do you want to go for it”

Jackson responded with a resounding “Hell yeah coach lets go for it” and inevitably takes it himself and scores the biggest touchdown of his young career.

I can’t remember seeing confidence in the offense oozing out of John Harbaugh in Joe Flacco’s entire tenure, maybe even in the NFL in general.

In his first ever always tough, rivalry game against the Pittsburgh Steelers Jackson was held in ​ ​ check by a much improved Steelers Defense. Trailing by three in the fourth quarter. Despite never truly finding his rhythm, he drives his team 45 yards down field set up the Justin Tucker field goal to send it into overtime.

In overtime, after a JuJu Smith-Schuster fumble, Jackson capitalizes by driving them 46 yards again to set up the game winning field goal by Justin Tucker.

Week two against the Cardinals, in a game that should not have been as close as it was, Jackson threw a 41 yard pass to make it impossible to come back sealing the game.

MVP Award is About More than Personal Stats

When it comes to a team sport like football, making plays when your team needs them will always be more valuable than concrete stats. To put it into metaphorical terms, The award is more than “how shiny your car is.” It’s about how your car performs when you need it most. He isn’t going to throw for the most yards this season.

There will be players with more touchdowns. In reality, he’s had games where he completes less than 10 passes. But when the Ravens need him to make a play for them with the game on the line, he’s got the rare killer instinct to pull it off, with an unmatched urge to win at all costs.

The uncontrollables of a team should also be taken into account. The Ravens defense is in the bottom 10 in Passing Yards Allowed, Rushing Yards Allowed, and Sacks. This puts more pressure on the offense to keep up with the scoring pace each week. They are asking him to make plays because the other team is.

This is exactly the reason he has gained more yards than full teams have this season.

Not to mention the Ravens have been without their only real deep threat with Hollywood Brown being out for 2 games, and drops that have been plaguing the receiving corps in his absence. This allows the opposing defense to play closer to the line of scrimmage with no real consistent threat over the top. This makes it easier to slow down the #1 ranked rushing offense, #2 overall offense forcing Lamar Jackson to put the pressure on himself to make a play.

The world is full of pessimists and it extends into the NFL. Fans with an old fashioned school of thought in terms of what a prototypical franchise QB is, will be hesitant to buy into a guy who doesn’t fit the description of the franchise QB of yesteryear.

In my eyes, down the road, Lamar Jackson will be looked back on as the new standard of the “Ideal franchise quarterback.”