- MVP again for Lamar? With one final regular-season chance to show why he deserves a second-consecutive and third overall MVP award, Lamar Jackson balled out to lead his team to victory on Saturday. As he has all season, Jackson dominated his opponents through the air and on the ground, seamlessly transitioning between passer extraordinaire to dynamic ball carrier when the situation called for it. Multiple times Jackson turned what seemed to be dead plays into big gains, breaking tackles and taking hits when necessary to get yardage. And in the pass game Jackson spread the ball around the field, throwing almost indefensible balls to Mark Andrews in tight coverage for a 12-yard touchdown pass and later a 30-yard gain to set up another score to Rashod Bateman two plays later. With his final stat line of 63 yards rushing and 217 passing with two TDs, Jackson’s season-long efforts were rewarded as he officially became the first player in history to have 4,000-plus passing yards and 900-plus rush yards in the same season. He is also the only player to finish a season with 40-plus passing touchdowns while throwing fewer than five interceptions (41-4 TD-INT ratio), and has the fourth-highest passer rating (119.6) of any QB in a season all-time, per NFL Research. Not a bad resume to present to MVP voters.
- Browns go out with a whimper, not a bang. It’s been a long and frustrating season for Cleveland, and that campaign ended unceremoniously on a Saturday afternoon in Baltimore. As expected, the Browns split snaps between Bailey Zappe and Dorian Thompson-Robinson, with the former spending the majority of the time on the field. But neither of these backups was able to seize the opportunity, instead falling flat on the big stage. Zappe had a bad interception on his first drive when Nate Wiggins jumped in from of Elijah Moore and ran it back for six, and Cleveland was only able to muster a field goal through the next six drives, missing opportunities for big gains and accumulating only 56 yards on the ground. Meanwhile Myles Garrett, who came into the game tied with the Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson atop the sack leaderboard, was held out of the backfield almost entirely, recording just two tackles, one for loss, on a quiet afternoon. The one consolation prize from the Browns’ 14th loss of the year? They’re now assured of receiving a top-3 pick in this spring’s draft as questions now begin as to what needs to change in Cleveland to turn things around.
- Ravens done with regular season, turn toward playoffs. With Saturday’s win the Ravens officially have clinched the AFC North and home field advantage for at least Super Wild Card Weekend as the No. 3 seed. And as the calendar turns to the new year and Baltimore sets its sights on what it hopes can be a deep postseason run, the Ravens seem to be playing some of their best football the past few weeks. The defense continued its impressive second-half turnaround on Saturday, limiting Cleveland’s shorthanded offense to just 230 total yards, the Browns’ worst output since Week 5 and tied for third-lowest of the season. Rookie cornerback Nate Wiggins put the Ravens on the board first with a pick-six, his first career interception, and an improbable interception by defensive tackle Michael Pierce closed the door late in the game. Kyle Van Noy finished his season with one more sack for a team-leading 12.5 total — earning him a $250,000 bonus in the process — as part of what has been the No. 2 defense in that category. On offense Lamar Jackson was his usual impressive self, and after a slow start in the first half (eight yards on six carries) Derrick Henry rumbled for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the final two quarters for his ninth game this year with 100-plus rush yards. The Ravens will have to monitor Zay Flowers’ knee injury moving forward — an MRI is scheduled for Sunday — but the team is otherwise in relatively good shape injury-wise despite needing to play starters in the final week to clinch the division. It’s been a long regular season, but the Ravens are rounding into form at just the right time as they get set to begin their Super Bowl quest.
Next Gen Stats Insight for Browns-Ravens (via NFL Pro): Lamar Jackson went 5-of-8 passing for 67 yards and a touchdown when targeting a receiver with at least five yards of target separation, adding to his league-leading 13 touchdown passes to wide open receivers this season.
NFL Research: With his 138 yards on the ground, Derrick Henry became the first player in NFL history with multiple seasons of 1,900-plus rush yards, having finished the year with a total of 1,921. In addition, with his two touchdowns versus the Browns, Henry is now tied with Hall of Famer Jim Brown for sixth all-time in career rushing touchdowns with 106.
