NFL fans roast ‘hater’ Richard Sherman for doubling down on controversial Lamar Jackson MVP take
Lamar Jackson has one hand on the MVP award.
The Baltimore Ravens quarterback had a performance for the ages on Sunday in a 56-19 victory over the Miami Dolphins.
The mercurial dual-threat QB completed 18 of 21 passes for 321 yards and five touchdowns. He also had zero interceptions and finished with a perfect passer rating - the third of his career.
Most fans are in agreement that the Ravens look like the best team in football and Jackson is the MVP.
However, Amazon Prime Thursday Night Football analyst Richard Sherman isn't quite willing to give the award to Jackson just yet.
The All-Pro cornerback has been reluctant to call Jackson the MVP in recent weeks, highlighting Jackson's 2023 stats in comparison to his unanimous 2019 MVP season.
READ MORE NFL
"I love Lamar Jackson as much as anybody, I've supported him the whole time,” Sherman recently said on Undisputed.
“If he had his numbers that he had the MVP year, which was 36 touchdowns to six interceptions, then we would be shouting from the rooftops he's the MVP of the league.”
Fans were reminding Sherman of his take throughout Jackson's masterful performance against the Dolphins, but the former Seahawks star still wasn't willing to budge.
"He had 36 passing TDs in his MVP season. He would need to be close to that," Sherman responded to a fan suggesting Jackson was the clear MVP.
Most read in NFL
"No matter how you slice it stats have always mattered in it," he went on.
"Which has been my point the entire time. I’m not hating on anything Lamar is doing. I’m simply stating the TDs have always mattered even when he won it. Doesn't mean he hasn’t had a tremendous season."
"[Jackson] would be the first MVP QB in over a decade to have less than 30 passing TDs" he added.
Sherman then said he believe it will be one of those "weird years" where they split the MVP award as he thinks Christian McCaffrey and Tyreek Hill "have been too special to ignore."
Many fans were labelling Sherman a "Jackson hater" for his stance.
"Richard Sherman is a CERTIFIED Lamar Jackson hater," one prominent account tweeted.
However, there is some credence to Sherman's numbers-based argument.
Action Jackson is currently tied for 10th in touchdown passes (24) and 13th in passing yards (3,678) this season. No quarterback has ever won MVP when ranking outside the top 10 in both touchdown passes and passing yards.
Jackson has also thrown for 3,678 yards, 24 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions while adding 821 rushing yards and five scores on the ground - good numbers but certainly not mind-blowing ones.
Lamar has undoubtedly been instrumental in the Ravens achieving a league-best 13-3 record, but having a defence that allows the fewest points per game in the league (16.4) definitely helps.
But where Jackson has truly excelled this season is in the biggest games.
After beating the Dolphins, Baltimore improved to 7-1 against teams with a winning record this season.
They also have a plus-170 point margin in those games - the biggest point differential against teams with a winning record in the Super Bowl era.
Read More on talkSPORT
This is all while the four other leading MVP candidates – 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, McCaffrey, Hill and Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa - have all faltered to varying degrees in recent weeks.
Jackson may not have put up all-time great numbers this season, but after powering the Ravens to the AFC North title and the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs, it's hard to see anyone else but him being named MVP.