By Rory Carroll
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson has overtaken San Francisco’s Brock Purdy in the MVP race after leading the Ravens to a dominant 33-19 road win against the 49ers on Christmas.
Entering into the potential Super Bowl preview between the AFC and NFC’s best teams, Purdy boasted the best passer rating in the league thanks in part to his ability to avoid big mistakes.
But on Monday night in Santa Clara, Purdy faltered, throwing a career-worst four interceptions to dig a hole his club could not dig out of.
Meanwhile Jackson, the 2019 MVP, threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns while running for 45 yards as the Ravens improved to 12-3.
With the win the Ravens moved one win away from clinching the AFC’s top seed and will get their first shot at doing so when they host Miami on Sunday.
“I thought Lamar had an MVP performance,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said after the game.
“It takes a team to create a performance like that, but it takes a player to play at that level. Lamar was all over the field doing everything.”
Jackson is now the favourite to win the award ahead of San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey with Purdy falling to third, according to oddsmakers.
The winner is decided by a panel of 50 sports writers and is limited to players’ regular season performance.
For his part, Jackson said he is more focused on avoiding another postseason flop than he is taking home MVP honours after the Ravens fell in the wild card round in 2019 and divisional round in 2020 and 2021.
“We’re just going to keep taking it a day at a time, a practice at a time and a game at a time,” Jackson said.
“That’s all I’m focused on right now.”
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in San Francisco; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
