Why Justin Herbert & Lamar Jackson are playing the best ball of their careers right now

On By Littum

On the other hand, of course, is Jackson, who is believed by many to be the front-runner for MVP, an award he won last year and again in 2019.

Jackson appears to have stepped it up another notch, ranking second in the NFL in passing yards (2,876) and on pace to set a single-season career high.

The Ravens quarterback is also second in TD passes (25) — already surpassing last year’s total — and has just three interceptions, which is tied for fourth-worst in the NFL. He has the highest QB rating in the NFL (117.3), which would also be a career high.

Preparing for Jackson is a tall order as Bolt’s safety Tony JeffersonJackson’s former teammate in Baltimore said Wednesday.

“You can’t mimic him, so there’s no way you can get a proper look in practice because there’s really no one that moves like him or no one that has that elusive pocket that he does,” Jefferson said . “A lot of guys have pocket awareness, but they can’t be as elusive as he is in the pocket.

“You really have to watch the film and put yourself in that situation,” he added. “If you’re in the back end and you’re covering, you just have to plaster and then in the rush, you have to try to bring him down because he has an incredible, rare quality of just making people miss.”

Jackson presents a challenge not seen in other quarterbacks.

But after getting a chance to go against him last year in primetime as well, the Bolts defense is excited for the challenge he presents.

“If you have that awareness, it’s something you just have to watch film on,” Jefferson said. “You’re not really going to get that look in practice because there’s not really another quarterback like that.”

Security Alohi Gilman added: “It’s hard to replicate a guy like that in practice, so it helps to have some experience. You have to be on it when you play him because he can beat you in multiple ways. It helps to have the opportunity to see him again the second time.”

It will definitely be a match under the lights at SoFi Stadium between some of the league’s best quarterbacks.