Lamar all but locks MVP as Ravens clinch top seed
BALTIMORE — Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens clinched a division title and the top seed in the AFC.
There’s no mathematical way to tell if the star quarterback wrapped up the MVP award, too, but his fans made their views on the topic clear.
Serenaded throughout by “MVP!” chants, Jackson threw for 321 yards (294 meters) and five touchdowns as the Ravens eviscerated the Miami Dolphins 56-19 on Sunday. Baltimore won its first AFC North title since 2019, when Jackson was named MVP. He might be closing in on that honor again.
“He played a perfect football game in terms of the passing game,” coach John Harbaugh said.
The stat sheet agreed. Jackson went 18 of 21 without an interception. He finished with a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
Jackson missed the end of the past two Baltimore seasons because of injuries. Now the Ravens can rest him voluntarily next week if they want, although Harbaugh was noncommittal on that.
Baltimore (13-3) has won six straight, and the Ravens rolled through a grueling December stretch that included games against the Rams, Jaguars, 49ers and Dolphins.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen a more impressive performance in a game. I’m not sure I’ve seen a more impressive performance in a season to date,” said Harbaugh, whose team will have a first-round bye before hosting its postseason opener. “Obviously we have a lot more to do. We’ve got a lot of work to do in front of us, but this is a mature football team.”
Miami (11-5) is also postseason bound, but now the winner of next weekend’s Dolphins-Bills game will take the AFC East. Miami was without two offensive stars in receiver Jaylen Waddle (ankle) and running back Raheem Mostert (knee, ankle).
And now the Dolphins face another potentially significant injury. Linebacker Bradley Chubb — with his team down 30 points — had to be carted off with 3:05 remaining after hurting his knee.
That raised obvious questions about why Chubb was still in the game. “There are times like this one when I would like a time machine for sure,” Miami coach Mike McDaniel said.
Jackson had more touchdown passes than incompletions. That’s a feat Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa also accomplished in a 70-20 win over Denver in Week 3.
Jackson also had a perfect passer rating 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.
Brock bounces back
Minutes after rolling to a 27-10 victory at Washington, the San Francisco 49ers watched the final minute of Philadelphia’s game at Arizona together in the visiting locker room.
A loud cheer erupted when the Eagles lost to Arizona in stunning fashion. After Brock Purdy threw two touchdown passes to bounce back from the worst game of his NFL career and results elsewhere fell their way, the Niners clinched the top seed in the NFC and the firstround bye and home-field advantage that comes with it.
“Thank you, Cardinals,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “Back in ’19, it took us winning in Seattle on the very last play of the game to secure the No 1 seed, and the fact that we were able to get it with one game left in the season is big.”
Wrapping up the No 1 seed before Week 18 could be a significant advantage for San Francisco (12-4) after losing Christian McCaffrey to a calf injury against the Commanders. The do-it-all running back left the game in the third quarter after gaining 91 scrimmage yards on 18 touches, and coach Kyle Shanahan thinks it could be a strained calf muscle.
“We think he’ll be all right,” Shanahan said. “I don’t know if he’ll be able to go next week or not, but we’ll have to find out more. He was moving around all right on the sideline, so hoping it’s not too bad.”
The Niners got touchdown catches from Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk and a rushing TD from Elijah Mitchell. Purdy, coming off throwing four interceptions in a humbling home loss to Baltimore, was 22 of 28 for 230 yards to reach 4,280 and break Jeff Garcia’s season franchise record of 4,278 set in 2000.
“To be able to come back and get the ball moving, throw it around to the guys and obviously get the offense to flow again and feeling it, it felt good,” Purdy said. The defense, also looking to atone for some struggles against the Ravens, intercepted Sam Howell twice — once each by Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir.