Maryland Governor Wes Moore declares February 11 as Lamar Jackson Day
Following Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson‘s second NFL MVP award win, Maryland Governor Wes Moore has made a declaration for the entire state. The 63rd governor of the state announced that Sunday, February 11th, will be Lamar Jackson Day. Sunday also happens to be the day of Super Bowl LVIII, which will feature a matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers.
Though he won’t play in the Super Bowl this year, the Baltimore star QB led his team to the conference championship game after a 13-4 regular season.
“@Lj_era8 exemplifies the heart and work ethic that sets him apart as not only a generational talent in the @NFL, but someone who cares deeply about his community,” Moore wrote in his announcement on X.
In the 2023 campaign, Jackson tallied a career-high 3,678 passing yards and 24 touchdowns while only throwing seven interceptions. Jackson completed 307-of-his-457 (67.2%) pass attempts this season, as well.
As usual, Jackson’s game wasn’t limited to the air raid. The former Heisman Trophy winner also exploded for 821 yards and five scores in the ground game. Jackson averaged 5.5 yards per carry. For reference, Justin Fields had the second-most rushing yards as a quarterback. He finished the season with nearly 200 less rushing yards.
Jackson’s fantastic individual play translated into team success. The Baltimore Ravens finished with a 13-4 record and won the AFC North for the first time since 2019. The Ravens handily defeated the Houston Texans 34-10 in the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs.
However, Baltimore fell against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship. Jackson averaged 212 rushing yards per game in the playoffs while adding 154 rushing yards. Jackson’s 154 rushing yards are the fifth-most in the NFL Playoffs this season, including running backs.
One MVP voter spoils Jackson’s unanimous decision
Lamar Jackson almost became the unanimous choice for the NFL’s MVP award on Thursday night but a single voter opted to select another as their first choice.
Jackson was among five finalists for the prestigious honor, including Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, Bills quarterback Josh Allen, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy and 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey.
FTNFantasy writer Aaron Schatz chose Allen as his MVP for the 2023 football season, and didn’t even have the Ravens QB as his second pick. Schatz went with Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
“These are all talented quarterbacks,” the FTNFantasy writer explained. “I’m a stat guy. I’m going to look at stats. There’s no question that by nearly every advanced metric you could look at, Josh Allen and Dak Prescott had better seasons than Lamar Jackson.”