While he is still chasing the Super Bowl, Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson is a two-time league MVP. He consistently puts up numbers that drop him into rare air, and most importantly, he wins games. His passing line doesn’t always look like Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes, but he’s not trying to pick up yards. He’s trying to score more points than the other team.
That’s why Jackson, like many athletes I’m sure, are tired of the impact of online betting and fantasy football. You have completely random strangers who might not even be fans of yours or your team, and they leave angry comments because you didn’t hit a certain statistical benchmark to help them win money or an imaginary game.
Jackson addressed such comments with a social media post this past week, which reporters naturally asked him about. Likely frustrated as the Ravens try to dig out of an 0-2 hole, he wants to make the priorities clear.
“We [are] going in there we trying to win games”, Lamar Jackson said, via the Ravens’ website, “not to help people’s parlay. We [are] not betting on the games – we can’t even bet on games and stuff like that, so we’re not worried about that”.
He added that players generally aren’t worrying about their stat lines during games, focused as they are on the win column. Of course there are special circumstances like bonuses and contract years, or teams that just suck and don’t win anyway. But Jackson is not on such a team, even if the Ravens dropped two games to start the season
“I believe it’s become a thing ever since the betting just started – a lot of bets have started like FanDuel, stuff like that”, Jackson said about an increase in comments from “fans” about players not hitting statistical benchmarks. “I believe that’s when that junk started happening. I don’t care; I just don’t like when my teammates get hit with, ‘Oh you missed it by two yards’. We don’t care about your two yards, boy”.
So far this season, Lamar Jackson is 72-of-108 passing for 858 yards with 5 touchdowns to 1 interception. He is taking the fewest sacks of his career and has 308 rushing yards with two touchdowns on 41 attempts.
During his second MVP season in 2023, Jackson threw for 3,678 yards with 24 touchdowns to 7 interceptions. He rushed for 851 yards with five touchdowns, but most importantly he went 13-3. He is already 2-2 on the season, so he can’t afford to do too much losing.
The Ravens have never gone on a three-game losing streak since drafting Lamar Jackson. They had a chance to do that two weeks ago, but they turned the corner in Dallas. The offense couldn’t close the game, and the defense allowed 19 fourth-quarter points. But they got the win, no matter how ugly it was, or who won their bets.
