Lamar Jackson rescued the Baltimore Ravens and their season on Monday night, emerging from the locker room to inspire his team to a crucial 47-42 win over the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football.
The reigning NFL MVP completed 11 of his 17 passes for 163 yards and one touchdown and finished with a total quarterback rating of 99.5, his fourth career game with a QBR of at least 99.0—the most of any starting quarterback since the metric was first recorded 15 years ago.
Jackson carried the ball nine times, rushing for 124 yards—the most by any quarterback in the current NFL season—and two touchdowns. It marked Jackson's eight career game with at least 100 rushing yards, the second-most by a quarterback in NFL history behind only Michael Vick. While Jackson is three games away from completing his third season in the NFL, Vick compiled his tally over a 13-year span in the league.
Jackson's three-figure rushing tally against the Browns also made him only the fourth quarterback in NFL history to rush for at least 100 yards on Monday Night Football after Steve Grogan, Donovan McNabb and Russell Wilson managed the feat in 1976, 2002 and 2014 respectively.
Having rushed for two touchdowns in the first half—the game's nine rushing touchdowns were the joint-most in NFL history—Jackson, who was quarantined for 10 days after testing positive to COVID-19 at the end of last month, was sidelined by cramps in the fourth quarter and retreated to the locker room.
"I was cramping. I didn't pull a Paul Pierce. I was cramping," Jackson told NFL Network after the game, referencing the famous incident in the 2008 NBA Finals, in which the Boston Celtics star was wheeled off the court before returning shortly after.
Jackson explained he decided to head back to the locker room to be treated with fluids following a short conversation with Ravens head coach John Harbaugh.
"I started cramping on the field," he said. "Like, right before the two passes I [threw] to Willie [Snead] and Mark [Andrews], the overthrows, I was cramping, my throwing arm.
"And I'm telling coach [John Harbaugh]: 'Man, I need to get some salt in my system real quick.'"
With the 23-year-old off the field, the Browns turned a 14-point deficit into a 35-34 lead with 6:33 left in the game, before Ravens back-up quarterback Trace McSorley suffered a knee injury and Jackson went back onto the field.
His return had an immediate impact, as he engineered a nine-play, 78-yard drive that lasted almost five minutes and ended with him throwing a 44-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Brown.
Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield then hit Kareem Hunt for a 22-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 42-42, but Jackson was to have the last word.
Baltimore got the ball back with 1:02 left in the game, allowing the reigning NFL MVP to put together a six-play, 38-yard drive to set up Justin Tucker's game-winning field goal with just two seconds left in the game.
INSTANT CLASSIC 🔥
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 15, 2020
Back Sunday at 1 p.m. on CBS pic.twitter.com/q4N8PvkaPB
At the end of a game where momentum swung back and forth, Jackson was one of the calmest players on the field.
"I didn't put that in my mind at all," he said of the final drive.
"These [are] crucial games for us right now, all I'm thinking about is winning that game. We had enough time on the clock, it was just go time for us and it's our time, I feel."
With the win, Baltimore improved to 8-5 and drew level with the Miami Dolphins, who currently hold the final wildcard berth by virtue of holding the tiebreaker over the Ravens.
The Ravens have the easiest remaining schedule in the NFL, with back-to-back home games against the 1-12 Jacksonville Jaguars and 5-8 New York Giants, followed by a road trip to Cincinnati to face the 2-10-1 Bengals in Week 17.
The Browns, meanwhile, slid to 9-4 but remain in control of the first wildcard spot.
