Baltimore Ravens S Kyle Hamilton claimed some players felt disrespected by being 6.5-point underdogs vs. the San Francisco 49ers. He responded by having two interceptions, and the Ravens rolled past the Niners with a 33-19 win.
John Harbaugh’s team left the Bay area with the best record in football, the No. 1 seed in the AFC, and a great impression. Beating the most stacked team in the league on the road and in such a convincing manner made it seem like this might as well be their year.
Lamar Jackson single-handedly took down both Christian McCaffrey and Brock Purdy in their respective MVP campaigns, making a statement by throwing for 252 yards and one score, adding seven rushes for 45 yards.
Nonetheless, as impressive as his performance was, the Louisville product doesn’t want to hear anything about winning another MVP award unless it also comes with the Vince Lombardi trophy.
Jackson Is All About Winning
“We got the ‘dub.’ I really don’t care about [my] performance,” Jackson said after the game. “I just want to win, and that’s what happened tonight. On Christmas, that was my gift.”
Jackson already knows what it’s like to be named MVP, but he’s alslo been on the losing end of a playoff game way too many times, which is why he’s only focused on taking care of business right now.
“We know what it was in 2019 when we were playing against [teams] like this [and] winning regular season games. When the time came, we didn’t finish the season,” Jackson said. “We’re just going to keep taking it a day at a time, a practice at a time and a game at a time. That’s all I’m focused on right now.”
An MVP Performance
“I thought Lamar had an MVP performance tonight,” HC John Harbaugh said. “It takes a team to create a performance like that, but it takes a player to play at that level – to play at an MVP level – it takes a player to play that way. And Lamar was all over the field doing everything.”
Jackson was calm and poised in the pocket, went through his progressions, and kept extending plays over and over. He got plenty of help from his defense, but he made the most of every single chance he got to put more points on the scoreboard.
“Those [plays] don’t just happen. Those happen because a lot of hard work gets put into it on top of a lot of amazing talent,” Harbaugh said. “They’re forced to cover guys downfield, and Lamar is able to run. [If] they don’t cover guys downfield, Lamar finds them. He has great vision, and our guys are finding soft spots in the coverage there and getting open, and he hits them. Nobody throws better than Lamar on the move, from awkward platforms; he’s very accurate that way.”
At the end of the day, Jackson is right on point with his approach. The MVP won’t mean a thing without a ring, and the Ravens can’t take their feet off the gas in the most crucial stretch of the season.
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