Lamar Jackson went into Thursday’s game against the New York Jets with history on his mind, as he was primed to break Michael Vick’s record for most rushing yards in a season for a quarterback.
Jackson joined Vick as the only quarterbacks to ever rush for 1,000 yards in a season, when he gained 40 yards against the Bills last week to reach 1,017 rushing yards on the season.
That put Jackson just 32 yards away from breaking Vick’s record, which he obliterated with 86 yards rushing against the Jets.
Jackson now has 1,103 rushing yards on the season and is well on the way to winning the league MVP.
Along with his work on the ground, Jackson dominated the Jets through the air, completed 15 of his 23 passes for 212 yards and five touchdowns.
The Ravens cruised to a 42-21 victory over the Jets, moving to 12-2 on the season. In doing so, Baltimore has clinched the AFC North for the second-straight year under Jackson’s leadership.
While clinching the division is a big deal, all eyes were on Jackson during and after this game, as no one thought Michael Vick’s record would ever be touched.
The reason being that Vick was a once and a generation type talent, but all of a sudden there is another one in Lamar Jackson.
Jackson now has two more games to pad his MVP stats before getting ready to lead his team into the playoffs.
Coming of 10-straight wins the Ravens are considered the favorites to make it out of the AFC, although the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs both present difficult matchups.
Everything should be in place for Baltimore, as one more win clinches a playoff bye and home field throughout the playoffs.
The only way they don’t get a playoff bye at this point though is for the Chiefs and Patriots to win out and the Ravens to lose their last two games.
Considering the way the Ravens have been playing though, it is hard to see anyone betting against them in any game doing down the stretch.