MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
With the close of the regular season and with the latest NFL Sweeps Season, otherwise known as the postseason, upon us, a lot of things are up in the air after we watched most of the meaningless games the cable company made available to us on the final Sunday of the season.
But, of course, as our friend Franics says, “What do you expect for $300 a month?”
It seems the Baltimore Ravens have righted the ship, which usually tends to be a dangerous place for the Ravens to be during this post Ray Lewis-Ed Reed era. Still, it’s been impressive to see the team finish the regular season at 12-5 and as AFC North champs for the second straight season after beginning 0-2 with a game they could have won against the Kansas City Chiefs and a home game they had absolutely no business losing to the pitiful Las Vegas Raiders.
The Ravens also lost a game in Cleveland against the Browns in which they were clearly outplayed but still could have just as soon won had they not dropped something like six potential interceptions, including the one in the final minute that was thrown directly into safety Kyle Hamilton’s hands.
That said, the Browns were terrible this season because of their offense. Their defense made them a tough out in most games.
The 18-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers three weeks later was inexcusable, because the Ravens defense played its best game to that point in not allowing Pittsburgh a touchdown. The 24-19 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at home was just that – a loss, as the Eagles just beat them.
Since then, the Ravens have won four in a row, including 34-17 over the Steelers, who they will meet Saturday night at home to open the playoffs.
Wins over Buffalo, Washington, Tampa Bay, Denver, the Chargers, Pittsburgh and Houston give the Ravens seven victories over playoff teams and the best strength of victory rating through what was the toughest strength of schedule in the AFC. The Ravens’ nine wins over winning teams are the second-most in NFL history, trailing the 2023 Ravens who won 10.
As the defense floundered with the 32nd-ranked pass defense through the first 10 games and as Justin Tucker went through the worst slump of his career, it was quarterback Lamar Jackson and the offense that kept the team afloat, as Baltimore was as many as two games behind the division-leading Steelers with just four games to go.
Thanks in part to the Steelers hitting their most brutal stretch of schedule, the Ravens are now AFC North champs.
NFL Most Valuable Player voters should really consider this when they say Josh Allen is more valuable to the Buffalo Bills than Jackson is to the Ravens, which is not for one second downplaying Allen’s greatness or his importance to the Bills. It just seems the media has been over-eager to give the MVP to Allen over Jackson for over half the season. Whether it’s voter fatigue (Jackson has won it twice already) or something else, voters should also consider the Ravens’ victory over Allen and the Bills this season was not close.
Allen did sit out most of the the final regular-season game because the Bills had the No. 2 seed sewn up, but Jackson has had the edge over him in the statistical game all season, setting the record for most rush yards for a quarterback in NFL history and posting the fourth-best passer rating in NFL history. He is also the first quarterback in NFL history with over 40 passing touchdowns and under five interceptions – a 41-4 ratio in an absurd season that has easily surpassed the greatness of his two previous MVP seasons.
Others say Allen has no Derrick Henry, but that Lamar does, which makes Allen even more “valuable.”
Here is what Henry said on Tuesday:
“You can put anybody by Lamar, and they’re going to have a helluva year. It’s just the type of player that he is. My success shouldn’t knock his, or vice versa.
“Lamar is the main reason why I came here. It was to play with a Hall of Fame quarterback …
“He’s the best player in the league, and it’s only going to get better from here. What I’ve done shouldn’t hurt him. He’s helped me even more.”
Jackson has always insisted the MVP is not the reason he plays, which is understandable considering the eggs the Ravens have laid in the playoffs following the seasons when he did win it.
There may well be another egg on the way, as soon as Saturday night, actually, which we will ponder here later in the week. But no player in the NFL has produced a better season this season than Lamar Jackson has. In fact, few in the history of the league have produced seasons anywhere near what Jackson has accomplished this season.
Whether that makes him the MVP or not doesn’t matter. Voters who choose not to vote for him because they merely want to see someone else win it for a change, whatever the reason, would matter.
It wouldn’t be right.
Mike Burke writes about sports and ..other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 19.81 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT