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Lamar Jackson gave the Broncos perfect passer rating in the Ravens win, another notch in his MVP campaign


Lamar Jackson gave the Broncos perfect passer rating in the Ravens win, another notch in his MVP campaign

Add another sensational performance to Lamar Jackson's MVP campaign.

The Ravens quarterback anchored a strong Broncos defense in a dominant 41-10 win on Sunday. He finished the fourth quarter on the bench after leading the Ravens to a 31-point lead.

When he finished, Jackson had completed 16 of 19 passes for 280 yards (14.7 yards per attempt) with three touchdowns and no turnovers. The result was a perfect passer rating of 158.3. The Ravens rebounded from a surprising loss to the Cleveland Browns last week to improve to 6-3.

Lamar Jackson continues to make a strong case for his third NFL MVP award. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)Lamar Jackson continues to make a strong case for his third NFL MVP award. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Lamar Jackson continues to make a strong case for his third NFL MVP award. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Jackson also added some NFL history along the way. Through nine games, Jackson is the fastest player ever to reach 20 passing touchdowns and 500 rushing yards in a single season. According to CBS, he broke his own record, which he shared with Randall Cunningham and Josh Allen, who had previously reached that mark in 11 games.

From the start of the game on Sunday, there was little doubt that Jackson and the Ravens were in charge. A score from Derrick Henry, which marked the 100th touchdown of his career, gave them a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

Then, with the Ravens leading 10-7 in the second, Jackson threw his first touchdown pass of the day to Zay Flowers. Jackson evaded pressure in the pocket and then tried to find the open Flowers in the back of the end zone.

After this score, there were still 3:47 minutes left in the first half. Jackson found Flowers for a second touchdown before halftime was over.

This time, Jackson launched a downfield strike across midfield on first-and-10 to find Flowers open at a weak spot in the Broncos zone. Flowers caught the ball near the 30-yard line and then did the rest of the work, racing past Denver defenders and into the end zone.

The score extended Baltimore's lead to 24-10 just before halftime.

The Ravens added a Justin Tucker field goal early in the third quarter before Jackson iced the game with his third touchdown pass of the day. This time he ran a play-action pass on second-and-goal and found fullback Patrick Ricard wide open near the goal line. Ricard deflected the pass and fell into the end zone for the score.

The game was effectively over at this point. Jackson played another possession that ended in a field goal, then ended his day on the bench as backup Josh Johnson took over at quarterback.

The Broncos entered Sunday's game with the NFL's third-ranked defense, allowing 282.6 yards per game and 176.3 yards per game through the air. They were no match for Jackson and a Ravens offensive attack that was arguably the best in the league in the first half of the season.

As of Sunday's game, Jackson has now completed 68.2% of his passes for 2,379 yards (9.3 yards per attempt) with 20 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He added 505 yards and two touchdowns on six yards per carry.

Jackson is the reigning MVP and a two-time winner of the award in his six previous NFL seasons. It's hard to argue that he isn't the front-runner to get his third win at the halfway point of the NFL season.

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