Lamar Jackson’s Christmas Performance Delivered Ravens Plenty of Gifts

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was all smiles as he made his way to the visitors’ locker room moments after delivering a 33-19 blowout Christmas win over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night. Consider a statement-making victory in a potential Super Bowl preview a fitting present under the tree for Jackson and Ravens fans alike.

“We got the ‘dub,'” Jackson said postgame. “I really don’t care about [my] performance. I just want to win, and that’s what happened tonight. On Christmas, that was my gift.”

Actually, it was one of many.

Not only did Baltimore win a matchup between two teams atop their respective conferences, but the lopsided holiday victory has the Ravens one step closer to locking up the top spot in the AFC, allowed the franchise to prove a notable naysayer wrong, and pushed their star 26-year-old quarterback to the front of the MVP race in the process.

Ravens Get Last Laugh at Mike Florio

The 49ers had won six games in a row heading into Week 16, thrashing a variety of teams in the playoff picture along the way. Several experts, including NBC Sports’ Mike Florio, considered San Francisco the best team in the NFL.

The founder of ProFootballTalk said that the 49ers would “kick the [expletive]” out of the Ravens going into the weekend. And Baltimore definitely noticed. Jackson called out Florio by name for his take after downing the 49ers in Santa Clara. And the two-time Pro Bowler continued his victory lap on X, formerly Twitter, by posting a Connor McGregor meme to taunt Florio.

“We’re in the NFL,” the quarterback said during his postgame press conference. “We play ball. Not to take away from that team, but you can’t just discredit us. We’re grown men. We have to feed our families. [Florio] can have his opinion, but don’t just talk like that. That’s disrespectful. That’s very disrespectful. Not to take away from the 49ers at all, because they’re great all across the board, but we’re going to come to play as well. Our record [isn’t a] fluke. We play ball, and we showed that.”

Florio offered an apology to Jackson and the Ravens on X after the game for his phrasing. On Tuesday morning, Baltimore was atop ProFootballTalk’s NFL power rankings.

NFL MVP Odds: Jackson Jumps Purdy

Jackson earned MVP honors after his second NFL season in 2019. And another trophy could soon be added to his collection. The sixth-year pro threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns, both of which were thrown in an 18-second span of game time, while also running for an additional 45 yards on Monday Night Football.

“I thought Lamar had an MVP performance tonight,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said postgame. “It takes a team to create a performance like that, but it takes a player to play at that level—to play at an MVP level—it takes a player to play that way. And Lamar was all over the field doing everything.”

Jackson was behind 49ers QB Brock Purdy, previously the odds-on favorite, in the MVP race, according to a variety of sportsbooks entering the night. But Purdy’s Christmas performance to forget helped contribute to Jackson’s surge. Purdy was intercepted off four times by Baltimore’s top-ranked scoring defense.

Jackson now sits as a -160 favorite to earn MVP honors, according to DraftKings as of Tuesday. Purdy has the fourth-best odds (+1200) behind teammate Christian McCaffrey (+400) and Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (+1000).

The Ravens (12-3) can clinch the AFC’s top seed with a win against the Dolphins next week. And that could be the finishing touch on Jackson’s MVP case. The All-Pro has thrown for 3,357 yards, rushed for 786 and accounted for 24 total touchdowns this season.

“I think if anybody watched the game [or] if anybody watches football this season and watched the Baltimore Ravens, they know for a fact [that] Lamar Jackson is the MVP, hands down,” Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith said postgame.

“…Anyone that watches football and knows football and [can] see the type of impact he has on the game—not even stat-wise, but just individually, the plays that he makes quarter in and quarter out, play in and play out—compare his film to anyone else in the league. Then, I would love to hear what anyone else has to say after that.”