Lamar Jackson doesn’t wear a cape, but he often plays like a superhero.
He had a career-defining performance in a 41-38 overtime victory against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5.
In one instance, Jackson could not handle a snap by center Tyler Linderbaum midway through the fourth quarter. He picked up the ball from the turf, stiff-armed Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard twice and then, as he was drifting toward the right sideline, threw a touchdown pass to Isaiah Likely.
Hubbard crouched to his knees and just shook his head in disbelief. Those who saw it were shaking their heads as well.
“I knew what was going on,” Jackson said. “We just had to put points on the board. That’s what was going through my mind, but without [making] a costly turnover. We were driving the ball down the field, trying to make something happen, because those guys, I think, [had] one play that went 80 yards, so it’s like we have to respond back fast because time is running out, and time was on our side today because we were able to make something happen.”
That touchdown pulled the Ravens to within three points and paved the way for the improbable victory after trailing by 10 points in the fourth quarter.
Jackson has already won two NFL MVPs, but this performance came on a day when he had to match Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and make plays against a defense that was shutting down running back Derrick Henry.
Burrow threw for five touchdowns and was nearly perfect. Jackson threw for 348 yards with four touchdowns, and kept bringing his team back. He wasn’t impressed with himself.
“This is not an exciting win for me at all, not [with] how the game ended, especially with us in overtime dropping the ball, and then the fumble happened,” Jackson said. “I’m ticked off about that. I didn’t want to put my defense back out there, and our offensive line was doing a great job, our receivers were doing a great job, but we got it done, so it’s cool. We got the win; that’s all that matters.”
As long as Jackson is in the lineup, the Ravens have a chance to win.
If he wasn’t impressed by his performance, his teammates were.
“That was like [a] third MVP level for Lamar,” Henry said. “It was a one-of-a-kind game, especially the [play] where he was getting sacked, got out of the pocket, kept running down, almost went out of bounds and threw that ball back to ‘Zay’ [Isaiah Likely], that’s why Lamar is … [He’s] the best player in the league; [he’s] the G.O.A.T for a reason.”
