To understand how dominant Lamar Jackson was in 2019, one first must recognize the record-breaking seasons completed by couple of the Ravens quarterback’s peers.
Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey led the league with 2,392 scrimmage yards, the third most in a single season in NFL history. His 116 receptions, second most in the league, were the most by a running back in a single season in NFL history. He became the first player in the Super Bowl era to record at least 120 rushing yards and 10 receptions in multiple games.
Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas set a new NFL single-season record with 149 receptions. He had nine games with at least 10 receptions, the most in a single season in NFL history.
Now consider the following. In NFL player voting for 2019 Sporting News Offensive Player of the Year, McCaffrey earned eight percent of the votes. Thomas received seven percent of the votes.
Jackson earned 76 percent of the votes.
MORE SN 2019 NFL AWARDS:
Voting results for all players, coaches of the year
That such a decisive chunk of NFL players considered Jackson the league’s best offensive player is telling, especially in 2019. Including the brilliance of McCaffrey and Thomas for Carolina and New Orleans, respectively, NFL teams combined to score 1,332 total touchdowns in 2019, the third most in a single season in league history.
And thanks to Jackson, nobody scored more than Baltimore.
The Ravens led the NFL with 3,296 rushing yards, the most by a team in a single season in league history. They also led NFL with 206 rushing yards per game, making them the first team since the 1977 Bears to average more than 200 rushing yards per game. We all know why.
Yes, Jackson broke Michael Vick’s single-season NFL rushing record for a quarterback with his 1,206 yards on the ground. Yet he also led the league with 36 touchdown passes. As a result, the Ravens easily led the NFL with 33.2 points per game. They put up 40 or more points in five games.
MORE AWARDS: 2019 NFL All-Pro Team
Courtesy of the NFL, below is a quantification of the absurdity that was Jackson’s 2019 regular season.
He had five games with at least 100 rushing yards, surpassing Vick (three games in 2004 and 2006) and Seahawks QB Russell WIlson (three in 2014) for the most by a quarterback in a single season in NFLhistory.He tied Robert Griffin III (21 games) as the quarterbacks to reach 1,000 career rushing yards in the fewest games in NFL history.He became the second quarterback in NFL history with at least 500 rushing yards in each of his first two seasons, joining Panthers QB Cam Newton (2011-12).He became the second quarterback to record a perfect passer rating (158.3; minimum 10 attempts) in multiple games within a single season in NFLhistory, joining Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger (two games in 2007).From Weeks 4-13 (nine games), he rushed for at least 60 yards in each game, surpassing Vick (six games in 2004) for the longest such streak by a quarterback in league annals.In Week 1 against the Dolphins, he became the seventh quarterback in NFL history with at least 300 passing yards, five touchdown passes and a perfect passer rating in a regular-season game in NFL history.In Week 2 against the Cardinals, he became the first player with at least 250 passing yards and 120 rushing yards in a single game in NFL history.In Week 6 against the Bengals, he rushed for 152 yards, the fourth most by a quarterback in a single game in NFL history, including the postseason.
Jackson did all this in his second NFL season.
He turned 23 this week.
So, yeah … McCaffrey and Thomas picked the wrong year to post historic offensive numbers. The 2019 season belonged to Jackson.
If he keeps it up, the next decade will belong to him, too.