Lamar Jackson named AFC Player of the Week after dicing up Lions

After being the catalyst for his team’s best offensive performance of the season, and in over a year, Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week.

This marks the ninth time in his already decorated career Jackson has earned such honors and first time in two years since the 2021 season.

Jackson became just the fourth player ever to throw for 350+ yards, three or more passing touchdowns, one or more rushing touchdowns, and a 150+ passer rating. He set season-highs across the boards including passing yards (357), passing touchdowns (three), total yards (393) and passer rating (155.8). He also rushed for 36 yards and a touchdown on Sunday as well.

The two-time Pro Bowler surpassed Hall of Fame inside linebacker Ray Lewis for the second-most Player of the Week honors in franchise history and now only trails Justin Tucker. With the resounding 38-6 victory, he became the fifth-fastest quarterback to reach 50 career wins in the Super Bowl era in just his 68th start.

Jackson beat out reigning league MVP Patrick Mahomes of the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and the two are also up for the FedEx Air Player of the Week honor as well. Mahomes threw for 424 yards and four touchdowns in a win over the Los Angeles Chargers but had a lower passer rating (129.5) than Jackson, despite having 15 more attempts and playing 100 percent of his team’s total offensive snaps.

As impressive as Jackson’s unanimous MVP-winning season was in 2019 when he received the AFC Player of the Week honors a whopping five times, the sixth-year veteran is having his best season to date this year. He is consistently playing the quarterback position in every facet of the game at an elite level that is more efficient and awe-inspiring than it’s ever been.

Against the Lions, he put on a clinic on how to navigate and throw from the pocket. His ball placement and layering of throws were elite, and the way he quickly went through his progression and delivered accurate throws was as good as it’s been all year.