'He Did Look Like Patrick Mahomes': Michael Irvin Calls Lamar Jackson’s TNF Performance ‘MVP-ish’

There was certainly a lot of mischief on the night before Halloween this year, and Lamar Jackson proved to be responsible for a lot of it. After an untimely hamstring injury resulted in Jackson missing a month’s worth of play and the Baltimore Ravens being fined $100,00 for their mishandling of it all, the dual-threat sensation was finally able to return to the field in Week 9 against the sinking Miami Dolphins, and what a return it was.

He only needed 18 completions to produce 204 passing yards and four touchdowns, and his career passer rating of 103.5 continues to be the best in the history of the league. According to Michael Irvin, that’s more than enough to allow Jackson a path into the MVP conversation.

“He did look like Patrick Mahomes. That Lamar we saw looked MVP-ish because of a couple things that he has. He has a solid running game in Derrick Henry, and what I saw Lamar do was play one of his best games… He did find the receivers. He moved around, he bought time just like Patrick Mahomes on Monday night.”

While Mahomes would ultimately post 299 passing yards and three touchdowns, he also managed two interceptions. As a result, Jackson officially out performed Mahomes in pass terms of pass completion percentage, passer rating, passing touchdowns, and yards gained per pass attempt.

In regards to every general passing metric apart from passing yards, Jackson just emphatically reasserted his presence in the league, and in the words of the NFL Hall of Famer, the best word to describe Jackson’s performance is “phenomenal.”

Despite having always had his passing acumen written off in light of his rushing capabilities, Jackson has begun to steadily prove himself as one the best pocket passers in the league. While that is predicated on him actually remaining in the pocket, it does help to prove the argument that, when healthy, he’s one of if not the most elite quarterback in the NFL today.

Should he somehow maintain this rate of play throughout the next nine games, then he’d also find himself with yet another solid argument to claim the third regular season MVP award of his career. At which point, he would have the same amount as Tom Brady and Brett Favre, and would be just one shy of tying Aaron Rodgers.

Suffice to say, Jackson’s dominance may have been inevitable when you look at both his resume and the status of the Dolphins’ defense. Then again, if he’s hoping to pull the Ravens’ playoff chances out of the fire, he almost had no choice but to take advantage of the situation.