The record Lamar Jackson has long seemed destined for is now his.
With a masterful outing Wednesday evening against the Texans in Houston, the Ravens quarterback became the NFL’s all-time rushing leader among quarterbacks. Jackson dashed 1 yard past legendary dual-threat quarterback Michael Vick’s mark of 6,109 yards and reached the threshold in 41 fewer games and six fewer seasons than Vick.
“It feels unreal, to be honest with you,” Jackson said after the 31-2 win.
In the Ravens’ third game in 11 days, this one played on Christmas, Jackson tied his second-best single-game rushing total of the year and best since Week 3. Jackson entered Wednesday needing 86 yards to tie Vick and finished with 87 on just four carries, breaking the record on an 8-yard run in the third quarter before throwing a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Andrews. He was pulled early in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach and complemented his rushing totals with 168 passing yards and two touchdowns.
Jackson’s rushing yards came in bunches. Early in the third quarter, he faked a handoff to Derrick Henry and took off to his right untouched for a 48-yard rushing touchdown. It likely bolstered his resume for a third NFL Most Valuable Player Award. It certainly cements his legacy as the best rushing quarterback in NFL history, as he now has the stats to back him up.
In 41 fewer games played
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“Sometimes I just shake my head and say, ‘That was really a great play,’” a lost-for-words coach John Harbaugh said. “I’ve seen a lot of great plays from Lamar Jackson.”
Jackson entered the NFL in 2018 shouldering mountainous amounts of criticism. Some (wrongly) thought the 32nd overall pick was better suited to play running back — a denigrating trope that had followed Jackson since high school. Every NFL milestone achievement — rushing, passing or elsewhere — has been met with his 2019 tagline, “Not bad for a running back.”
After finally beating the archrival Steelers on Saturday, Jackson had an early Christmas gift sitting in the locker room: a painted canvas featuring those six words.
“I’m proud of him for all the things he’s overcome along the way,” Harbaugh said. “I put his mom in the same category; what they’ve overcome together, all the narratives and all that kind of stuff, it’s quite a remarkable story. It’s historic, but the story’s still being written, and there’s a lot more to accomplish.”
The always-grinning 27-year-old was asked after the lopsided win in Houston about his Lamarvelous third-quarter scamper and score, during which he was clocked at 21.25 mph, the fastest run of his career. With a dismissive head shake, Jackson said, “I was jogging.”
“For real?” he added after learning the number. “That’s crazy.”
The veteran in charge of protecting Jackson’s blind side said he’s never seen anyone — quarterback or otherwise — run quite like him.
“The effortless nature of the way he runs the ball and makes these defenders not look as fast as they are,” left tackle Ronnie Stanley said, “I’m impressed by everything he does every day.”
Coupling in the other mystifying backfield threat, running back Derrick Henry, who on Wednesday became the Ravens’ single-season rushing touchdowns leader with his 16th score, Stanley continued, “I’m in awe that I get to play with two Hall of Famers in the same backfield every game.”
But Jackson earned the rushing record in what is unmistakably his best season as a passer.
“I think as a passer he’s taken leaps and bounds from where we started in the offseason last year [around] spring training camp last season and then picking up where he left off,” quarterbacks coach Tee Martin said earlier this month. “Pass technique-wise, being more accurate at all of the throws at all field zones. We made a key point to work on throws outside the numbers, into deeper field zones, outside the numbers, post routes, go routes [and] things of that nature [as well as] on the run [and] scramble throws.”
It’s all been evident in his campaign for a third career MVP honor posting numbers stronger than the previous two award-winning seasons (2019 and 2023). And it has made the magic he can spark with his legs all the more valuable. Harder to defend, too.
The record comes two weeks after Jackson revealed his mother, Felicia Jones, gave him grief for what she deemed a passive rushing performance. Jones cussed out her son after a 24-19 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in which Jackson rushed for 79 yards. She thought he should have had more.
Now, no quarterback has more.
Not all former players are willing to pass down their records with such grace. Even fewer empower their successors. Vick has done both, cheering on Jackson with a smile.
“We knew it was coming, man. Like I said, you was the guy for the job,” Vick said, in a 2019 video message when Jackson broke his single-season rushing record (1,206). “Appreciate everything you do for the game.”
Then on a FanDuel show in 2022, Vick was introduced as the all-time record holder. He cut off the interview: “That’s temporary,” he said. “Lamar Jackson is on my trail!”
Two years later, Vick’s once unthinkable rushing total is squarely in Jackson’s rearview mirror.
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