The top 23 moments of Lamar Jackson’s career on his 23rd birthday
No. 12- Jackson gets drafted, puts the world on notice
Lamar Jackson is going to bring your franchise a Super Bowl.
Plenty laughed at the thought of the fifth quarterback drafted in 2017 actually being the starting QB on a Super Bowl-winning team.
But Jackson is doing the laughing now as he prepares his No. 1 seeded Ravens for a playoff run in only his second season.
He warned us all. The other 31 teams would regret not choosing him earlier.
“They’re gonna get a Super Bowl out of me. Believe that.”
No. 11 – Jackson leads Ravens past NFL’s top team, San Francisco 49ers
It was by no means his best game, but it was without question the best win of his young career. San Francisco was seen as the NFL’s best team at the time the two clashed.
It wasn’t pretty (at least compared to the usual Lamar standards) but when the Ravens needed a big play, Jackson made it to the tune of 105 yards passing and a touchdown to go along with 101 yards rushing and another score. He also led the team on their final drive which ended with a Justin Tucker field goal.
After the win, no. 8 is now at the top of the favorites list for MVP.
No. 10 – Jackson throws a game-winning touchdown pass in waning seconds against Virginia
It wasn’t his best game, and it certainly wasn’t pretty.
Like in the NFL, Jackson was rarely forced to execute a game-winning drive.
But the one time the game was on the line in 2016, on the road, at Virginia, he turned the UVA student section into a meme we will remember forever.
No. 9 – The Ravens, Jackson dismantle the Patriots in prime time
The defending Super Bowl champions. The best defense in the NFL.
There’s no way Jackson was going to be able to execute against the Patriots, right?
This was Jackson’s chance to officially turn the page and turn the narrative that his play was an anomaly on its head.
He did just that in a poised victory.
No. 8 – Lamar becomes a viral sensation in high school
How to become a walking meme in 3…2…
This play started the legend that would become, Lamar Jackson.
No. 7 – Jackson becomes the youngest quarterback to make a playoff start
It’s still perhaps his most talked-about performance of his career because of the way that the game began.
Jackson and the Ravens were simply out game planned in their loss to the Chargers in the first round of the 2019 playoffs.
But lost in the shuffle was the fact that Jackson was the youngest quarterback in league history to start a playoff game.
Among all of the awards, records, and accolades, this is still one of his more impressive feats to date, especially given that the Ravens’ highest-paid player and former Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco was sitting on the bench healthy.
No. 6 – Dueling with Deshaun Watson in Death Valley
Perhaps one of the greatest games in college football history, Jackson and the Cardinals were one play away from silencing a deafening crowd in Clemson, South Carolina in 2016.
The game was up and down, back and forth, great defenses vs even better offenses, and the first and second-place finishers in the 2016 Heisman voting.
Clemson came ready for everything Louisville threw at them, and it still came down to a controversial ending.
To this day, Louisville football fans kick themselves over this game- the one that got away. Still, there is a sense of appreciation for just how good those teams and players- especially Jackson- were.
One day, we will look back at that game and perhaps know that that was the start of a great rivalry between two Hall of Fame quarterbacks ready to take the NFL by storm.