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Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson doesn’t care about the MVP hype
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Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson doesn’t care about the MVP hype

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Lamar Jackson is on his way to becoming, as the Baltimore Ravens often put it, the next “MV3.”

Jackson is off to one of the best starts of his career, quarterbacking the NFL’s No. 1 offense and putting up numbers that would surpass last season when he was named MVP. If Jackson wins the award this year, he would become the youngest three-time NFL MVP, but that’s not the story that concerns him.

“I really don’t care about the hype,” Jackson said after Thursday’s practice. “I’m not going to worry about an MVP trophy or anything like that. I never did that. Even when I won it, I never thought about it. It was about me just trying to win every single game I’m in.” And the same thing from now on: I’m still trying to win those games to get to February and win in February .

The 27-year-old Jackson is alluding to the fact that he is 2-4 in the postseason and has yet to make it past the conference championship game. He is currently the only multiple MVP winner who has yet to win a Super Bowl.

But Jackson has the Ravens (4-2) in position for another championship run, rattling off four straight wins heading into Monday night’s game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN). He ranks seventh in passing (1,529 yards) and eighth in rushing (403), on pace to surpass his numbers from last season (3,678 passing yards, 821 rushing).

Jackson’s outstanding numbers and memorable plays on the field — like when he stiff-armed Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard and threw a touchdown pass to Isaiah Likely in Cincinnati two weeks ago — have the excitement for another MVP trophy still alive reinforced. The Ravens’ social media accounts have begun referring to Jackson as “MV3.”

“I just feel like everything is slowing down even more,” Jackson said. “For the (seven) years I’ve been in the league and seen all kinds of defenses and blitzes. At the moment everything is just taken for granted. So I just try to be a better player myself every year.”

Jackson would join Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers as the seventh player in NFL history to win three MVP awards. Heading into Week 7, Jackson is the second-largest betting favorite at +550, according to ESPN BET, trailing only Patrick Mahomes (+325).

“He’s always trying to improve,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “He is an absolute perfectionist. He wants every play to be perfect. He strives for perfection in his football. But I think his focus is on the next play (and) the next game.”

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