Lamar Jackson has sealed the NFL Most Valuable Player award.
Let us call it the Jackson Five.
Jackson threw for 321 yards and five touchdowns, finishing with a perfect passer rating and helping the Baltimore Ravens (13-3) clinch the top seed in the AFC with a 56-19 rout of the Miami Dolphins (11-5).
Ravens won their sixth straight game and wrapped up their first AFC North title since 2019, Jackson’s first MVP season.
“I am not paying attention to the chants,” Jackson said. “The only thing on my mind was finishing the game, and today we did that.”
Jackson went 18 of 21 passing, finishing the game with more touchdown passes than incompletions.
“We have to finish this season the right way,” Jackson said. “We had one obstacle; we finished that obstacle.”
The Dolphins make me cry, The Miami Dolphins have successfully secured their spot in the playoffs
Jackson also had a perfect passer rating of 158.3 against Miami in 2019. He joins Tom Brady (against Detroit) as the only quarterbacks with two perfect ratings against the same team, with a minimum of 20 attempts.
Entering Sunday as the betting favorite for NFL MVP, Jackson produced his third career game with a perfect passer rating, tied for the second most in NFL history. He trails only Ben Roethlisberger, who has done it four times.
The Ravens scored the most points in franchise history in win over the Dolphins.
Miami trailed 35-14 with under 13 minutes remaining last season before rallying to a 42-38 win over the Ravens. This season’s matchup featured Miami’s top-ranked scoring offense and Baltimore’s top-ranked scoring defense.
The Dolphins remain in a good position, taking their talents to the postseason, but fall short of the top seed in the AFC. The winner of next weekend’s Dolphins- Buffalo Bills game will take the AFC East.
Miami was without two offensive stars in wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (ankle) and running back Raheem Mostert (knee, ankle). And now the Dolphins fear Linebacker Bradley Chubb could have a torn ACL.
Tua Tagovailoa passed for 237 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. He did not finish the game after an injury on his left shoulder.
“Shoulder is good, the shoulder is good. Just a little sore, that’s all,” Tagovailoa said.
Dolphins committed three turnovers in the game.
“We came into this game with high hopes of playing the standard that we wanted to play,” Tagovailoa added. “And when those standards aren’t met, it feels like it’s very disappointing. So, I would say in the locker room, that’s sort of the feel.”
Tagovailoa remains the NFL’s leader in passing yards.
A quiet but bright side for the Dolphins is receiver Tyreek Hill’s historic season. Hill led the Dolphins in receiving today with six receptions for 76 yards (12.7 avg.). His 76 yards give him 1,717 for the season, a new Dolphins single-season record. It breaks the record of 1,710 receiving yards that Hill set himself last year.
“I played probably one of the worst games of my career. As a leader of this team, I can’t put that on tape,” Hill said. “[I’ve] just got to erase it [and] move forward. Obviously, [I will] go watch the tape and get better from it.”
Hill is now the first player in NFL history to have multiple seasons of 1,700+ receiving yards in a career. He also surpassed 10,000 career receiving yards, making him the seventh active NFL player.
The Dolphins did not match the Ravens’ momentum in the second half of the game. Ravens had a 28 – 13 lead at the half; however, with the help of their home field, the top-scoring defense played impressive from the first kickoff. The Ravens outscored the Dolphins in the second half 28-6. Ravens have defeated the San Francisco 49ers on the road and Dolphins at home in back-to-back weeks.
The Cowboys remain the only team above .500 the Dolphins have won against this season, but a 37-point loss in December is concerning. The Dolphins have tons to play for next week, hosting the division-rival Bills. Injuries will be a concern with questions on Tagovailoa leading up to an important game.
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