The Los Angeles Rams got a huge reality check in their Monday Night Football matchup in Week 12 as led by a strong performance from Lamar Jackson, the Baltimore Ravens came away with a convincing 45-6 victory at the Coliseum.
Jackson has emerged as a frontrunner for the 2019 NFL MVP, which is quite the turn of events after facing criticism coming out college that he could not play the quarterback position. Jackson certainly proved his worth as a quarterback in Los Angeles, this time using surgical precision to dismantle the Rams defense.
He finished the game with 169 passing yards, five touchdown passes and 95 rushing yards, dishing out the Rams fifth loss on the season. For Rams head coach Sean McVay, he was certainly impressed with Jackson’s performance and came away believing he is the MVP of the league, via the Rams official Twitter:
“It was impressive. When you sit there and you watch and you feel the operation up close and personal and you just see just how sharp they are with their execution, what a dynamic playmaker [Jackson] is, what a good job they do of creating conflict right before the snap, changing your fits. And then on third down they were really impressive. Just his operation, his ability to be able to find some completions, make plays with his legs. There’s a reason why people are talking about him as an MVP, it felt like it tonight. Give them credit, they did a good job, but we’re not going to let this bleed into next week. This is humbling, nobody is going to shy away from [the loss]. We’ve got to do a lot better collectively as a team, you give the Ravens their credit, but what you can’t do is you can’t allow the Ravens to beat us twice as we move forward into our preparation in the upcoming week.”
The Rams will definitely need to remain focused on how they can improve if they hope to keep their playoff chances alive. Dwelling only on losing and not what actually caused the loss can only hurt the team, but McVay hopes to move past the defeat and prepare for the Arizona Cardinals.
If the Rams hope to make the playoffs, they are going to need some rhythm and essentially win out in their final five games. That will be easier said than done as in addition to their two matchups with the Cardinals, they also will face the Dallas Cowboys, the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks. The Rams are currently two games out of the NFC playoff picture, just below the Minnesota Vikings.
