Getty Ravens QB Lamar Jackson walks off the field of a regular season game on September 25, 2022.
Following a thrilling 37-26 bounce-back win over the New England Patriots in Week 3 of the 2022 regular season in which their defense bounced back and their offense was highlighted by another MVP performance from Lamar Jackon, the Baltimore Ravens are being universally viewed as a consensus top 10 team by NFL media pundits.
The Athletic: 5 (Previous: 8)
“This is probably either the last good team or the first flawed-but-pretty-much-fine team. Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts have the shortest MVP odds at the moment, but it’s hard to overlook Lamar Jackson, who has accounted for a ridiculous 85.9 percent of the Ravens’ total offense. That offense ranks sixth in the league in EPA per drive. By comparison, Allen’s combined passing and rushing yards are good for 83.4 percent of the Bills’ offense, while Hurts is responsible for 79.2 percent of the Eagles’ offense.” – Bo Wulf
NFL.com: 7 (Previous: 10)
“In Week 3, the Ravens’ defense collapsed in the fourth quarter against the Dolphins. On Sunday at Foxborough, Baltimore’s defense closed its opponent out. The Ravens produced three turnovers in the fourth quarter, including a crucial end-zone interception by Marlon Humphrey, to help seal a 37-26 win over the Patriots. Lamar Jackson continued to look like the NFL’s early front-runner for MVP, producing five total touchdowns. ‘No one has to tell me about Lamar Jackson,’ Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of his QB (and pending free agent). ‘I believed in him from the first day we drafted him.’” – Dan Hanzus
ESPN: 6 (Previous: 9)
Lamar Jackson has played at an MVP level. He has accounted for 87% of the Ravens’ offense, beating teams with his arm and with his legs. He leads the NFL with 10 touchdown passes and ranks second with a 78.7 QBR. Jackson, though, remains just as dangerous running the ball, producing the fourth-most rushing yards in the NFL (243) and the best rushing average (9.35 yards per carry). The Ravens are still without their All-Pro left tackle (Ronnie Stanley) and their No. 1 running back (J.K. Dobbins) just returned on Sunday. But Baltimore leads the league in scoring (33 points per game) because Jackson is the best dual-threat quarterback in NFL history.” – Jamison Hensley
NBC Sports: 8 (Previous: 9)
“ Through three games, Lamar Jackson’s self-bet is paying off. He only has 48 games to go.” – Mike Florio
Sports Illustrated: 7 (Previous: 8)
“Those of us who predicted a Lamar Jackson MVP are feeling pretty good. Jackson is also one of the league leaders in average depth of target. He’s rushing for 100 yards a game and pushing the ball downfield. The NFL’s Shohei Ohtani.” – Connor Orr
Sporting News: 8 (Previous: 11)
“How about Lamar Jackson? Jackson has become an absolute passing and running force again to make up for any other issues they might be having. The defense is giving up big plays, but they are finally coming through on their opportunistic potential of making more big plays in response.” – Vinnie Iyer
Yahoo Sports: 8 (Previous: 9)
“Lamar Jackson is amazing. Full stop. Sometimes on social media we focus on the small groups with awful takes, because it’s easy to dunk on them. And I don’t think the percentage of people still criticizing Jackson is very high. It just shocks me that any exist anymore.” – Frank Schwab
CBS Sports: 8 (Previous: 10)
“Lamar Jackson has been special this season, but he has to be because of the defense. He’s shown that he’s back to his MVP level of play — probably even better.”- Pete Prisco
The Ringer: 5 (Previous: 6)
“Lamar Jackson is a cheat code. The Ravens’ inability to come to an agreement with Jackson on a long-term contract prior to the season only looks more ridiculous as Jackson continues to single-handedly propel the offense every single week. He currently ranks fifth in EPA per dropback (0.22) and first in EPA per designed rush (0.44) among all players with 20-plus carries this season. Second-year wide receiver Rashod Bateman and veteran tight end Mark Andrews have both been high-end contributors, but none of this works without Jackson. Fading Baltimore is fading Lamar, and you have to be out of your absolute gourd to do that after what we’ve seen thus far.” – Austin Gayle
Bleeding Green Nation: 5 (Previous: 8)
“Lamar Jackson is once again tearing up the regular season. Still need to see it translate to the playoffs since he’s been terrible there. For now, he’s putting the Ravens in good position to win the AFC North.” – Brandon Lee Gowton
Sportsnaut.com: 8 (Previous: 10)
“The Baltimore Ravens were foolish this offseason. By not offering Lamar Jackson a contract that would have made him one of the two highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL, the franchise cost itself even more money long-term. Jackson is playing even better than he did in his 2019 MVP season and we still haven’t seen a healthy Ravens’ offense yet. Jackson is following the Aaron Judge path, delivering a historic season in a contract year.” – Matt Johnson
Walterfootball.com: 8 (Previous: 10)
“The Ravens are not the team that blew a 21-point lead to the Dolphins in the fourth quarter. They did a great job of rebounding from that loss, especially considering that teams often struggle after blowing big leads.” – Walter Cherepinsky