NFL winners and losers, Week 9: Ravens' Lamar Jackson is speed running his G.O.A.T. case

Each week of the NFL season, The Baltimore Sun will recap the best and worst from around the league. Here are our winners and losers from Week 9:

Winner: Lamar Jackson

Greatest of all time? It’s not crazy.

Yes, the Ravens’ star quarterback still hasn’t won a Super Bowl title. Tom Brady won seven in his 23 seasons, and Patrick Mahomes has already won three in his first eight. In this era of sports culture, rings will always matter most.

But consider what Jackson has already accomplished at just 27 years old. He’s a two-time NFL Most Valuable Player and the betting favorite to win a second straight MVP Award and third overall. He’s just 346 rushing yards away from passing Michael Vick for the most by a quarterback (6,109) in league history. He has a chance to pass for 4,500 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a single season, something no NFL quarterback — not even Jackson in his brilliant 2019 campaign — has ever come close to doing.

In Sunday’s 41-10 win over the Broncos, Jackson threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns to record a perfect passer rating of 158.3 for the fourth time in his career. According to Pro Football Reference, that ties him with Otto Graham, Craig Morton, Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger for the most in their database. But, as noted by CBS, Jackson is the only player to do it four times with at least 15 passing attempts.

What’s even more staggering is that Jackson accomplished the feat in his 86th career start. Manning (265), Roethlisberger (247), Tom Brady (333) and Kurt Warner (116) needed at least 100 starts to do it three times with at least 15 attempts.

Jackson’s eventual G.O.A.T. case could be decided by MVP voting. Manning is the only five-time winner of the NFL MVP Award, claiming it for the final time in 2013 at age 37. He won his third at 32. Aaron Rodgers, a four-time winner, secured his third at 37. Tom Brady was 40, and Johnny Unitas was 34 when they won their third. Brett Favre won his third straight at 28, but he never finished higher than second in voting for the rest of his career.

If Jackson continues on this pace, he’ll win a third MVP Award just after his 28th birthday on Jan. 7. There’s no telling how many more he might win over the next 10 years — if he chooses to play that long.

At least on Sunday, he proved that he doesn’t need to run to be effective, rushing for just 4 yards on three carries. Given good health, a good team around him, a little luck and a few big postseason performances, Jackson could go down as the best ever. Of course, it wouldn’t surprise (perhaps prophetic) coach John Harbaugh.

“The vision that we have together is that Lamar Jackson is going to become and be known and be recognized as the greatest quarterback ever to play in the history of the National Football League,” Harbaugh said in July. “That’s the vision. It’s going to happen by Lamar, his work ethic and his brilliant talent, by all of us pouring into that effort together as a team, and by the grace of God and God’s goodwill. That’s how it’s going to happen. And I believe it like we’ve already seen it.”

He might be right.

Loser: Dallas Cowboys

Things are not going well in Jerry World.

The weekend started with the Cowboys leaving Ezekiel Elliott at home as punishment for “habitual tardiness,” continuing what has been a disappointing reunion with the former star running back. On Sunday, Dallas fell to the Atlanta Falcons, 27-21, in a game that only looks close because of a garbage time touchdown drive led by backup quarterback Cooper Rush.

Coach Mike McCarthy was seen on the sideline slamming a tablet after a botched coverage allowed Darnell Mooney to score an easy 36-yard touchdown. The Cowboys went 3 for 13 on third down and 1 for 5 on fourth down, including a failed fake punt and an end-around to wide receiver CeeDee Lamb that went nowhere.

Now quarterback Dak Prescott is reportedly expected to miss several weeks with a hamstring injury he suffered Sunday, essentially removing all hope of Dallas competing for a playoff spot. With three straight losses, their longest streak since a four-game skid in 2020, the Cowboys are 3-5 heading into matchups against the Eagles, Texans and Commanders.

“We have five losses and so we clearly understand where that puts us as far as what it will take,” McCarthy said. “We’ve got to get to winning.”

No matter how this season ends, this is probably the end of McCarthy’s tenure in Dallas. While enjoying consistent regular-season success, including three straight 12-5 seasons, the Cowboys have failed to advance past the divisional round and have twice lost in the wild-card round under McCarthy. Now, with the roster in need of a rebuild, owner Jerry Jones no longer has any Super Bowl dreams to cling to. With Prescott and Lamb signed to big extensions and pass rusher Micah Parsons the next in line to get paid, a top-heavy roster has few avenues to improve. A high draft pick might be the only thing to look forward to.

Near the end of Sunday’s game, TV cameras caught Prescott clearly mouthing the words “We [expletive] suck.” It’s a perfect encapsulation of a lost season for a team that generates more attention than its play on the field has ever deserved.

Winner: Detroit Lions

Next stop, New Orleans?

The Lions look like the class of the NFC and the potential Super Bowl favorites after a 24-14 win over the division rival Green Bay Packers on Sunday. In its first outdoor game of the season, Detroit did not seem shaken by the sloppy conditions at Lambeau Field as quarterback Jared Goff completed 18-of-22 passes and David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs combined for 138 rushing yards — including a 15-yard touchdown run by Gibbs on fourth-and-1 to take a 24-3 lead in the third quarter.

The Lions’ defense also overcame the second-quarter ejection of star safety Brian Branch for an illegal hit to the head, getting a 27-yard pick-six from safety Kerby Joseph and holding Green Bay to 3 for 12 on third down and a ghastly 1 for 4 in the red zone. Jordan Love threw for 273 yards and Josh Jacobs rushed for 95, but Green Bay’s 411-261 advantage in total yards didn’t translate to more points.

While Detroit lost its biggest star in pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson, its defense still has plenty of talent. Just look at Joseph, a 2022 third-round draft pick who has intercepted a pass in five of the past six games to tie Green Bay’s Xavier McKinney for the NFL lead at six. According to The Associated Press, Joseph became the first safety to intercept at least 14 passes through his first three seasons since Hall of Famer Ed Reed did it from 2002 to 2004.

The Lions are now 7-1 for the first time since 1956, putting them in the driver’s seat for the top seed in the NFC, a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. But no matter the path, coach Dan Campbell said his team is “built to win.”

“We’re supposed to be the dome team who can’t play outside,” Goff said. “We’re supposed to be the team that can only win one way. I think we’ve shown a handful of times we can win in multiple ways. We’re chameleons.”

Loser: Indianapolis Colts

Maybe Joe Flacco isn’t the answer after all.

After a controversial decision to bench second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson and make Flacco the starter, the Colts’ offense was just as disappointing in a 21-13 loss to the Vikings on Sunday night. Flacco completed 16-of-27 passes for 167 yards with an interception, resulting in a 14.6 QBR that ranks worse than any number Richardson posted in his first six games this season.

Coach Shane Steichen said Flacco “gives us the best chance to win right now” when he made the call last week, but that wasn’t the case Sunday as the Colts (4-5) produced season lows in offensive points (six), yards (227) and first downs (13). Minnesota boasts one of the league’s top defenses, but Flacco’s inability to evade pressure and his tendency to force throws into tight coverage against Brian Flores’ aggressive scheme did not help the offense stay ahead of the sticks. According to ESPN’s Mina Kimes, Indianapolis averaged minus-0.35 expected points added per play Sunday, their worst mark of the season.

There’s also the matter of what Richardson provides in the running game as a dual threat. It’s a small sample size, but Colts running back Jonathan Taylor has been much more effective with Richardson in the game than Flacco, and that was evident when Taylor rushed for just 48 yards on 13 carries against Minnesota. Richardson also throws downfield at a much higher rate, preventing defenses from crowding the line of scrimmage.

If the Colts just wanted to sit Richardson for a game or two to give him a break — which might have been necessary after his strange decision to take himself out a Week 8 game against the Texans because he was tired — that’s understandable. His league-low 44.4% completion rate and seven interceptions were ugly. But Steichen seems committed to Flacco for the foreseeable future, perhaps to his detriment. While the 39-year-old veteran might end up keeping the Colts in the playoff race, it comes at the cost of valuable playing experience for a 22-year-old quarterback who has made a combined 23 starts thus far in college and the NFL.

According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Colts have a 37.2% chance to make the playoffs and a 9.7% chance to win the AFC South. Are those odds worth chasing with Flacco?

The Colts need to know sooner than later whether their investment in Richardson with the fourth pick of the 2023 draft was worth it. They won’t learn anything with him on the bench.

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