My name is Toni and I’m a fourteen-year-old writer. My “aunt” Bridget has created a safe space for me to share my thoughts about music and sports while I work to become a more confident writer with my own platform.

Why Lamar Jackson is the NFL’s 2023 Most Valuable Player

Written by Toni/Edited by Aunt Bridget

Has Lamar Jackson won the hearts of MVP voters?

After NFL quarterback Lamar Jackson led in decisive wins over the San Francisco 49ers and the Miami Dolphins, teams many people described as more talented leading up to their matchups against the Ravens, people were starting to think that Lamar Jackson had stolen the hearts of Most Valuable Player (MVP) voters. Is this true? In this season alone, Jackson has led the Ravens in wins over teams that many described as unbeatable, including the 49ers, and he didn’t just beat them, he put those other teams on notice, and he left all those who had doubted and questioned his talents to almost unanimously predict Jackson’s odds of winning the coveted MVP race. 

Is Lamar carrying the Ravens on his back?

As the Baltimore Ravens keep knocking down their opponents, people are starting to notice that the Ravens rely on Lamar Jackson a little too much. On the Nightcap podcast, Hall of Fame and two-time Superbowl winning tight end (and former Baltimore Raven) Shannon Sharpe said, “No quarterback is asked to carry a load like Lamar Jackson; we all know he is the quarterback, and we also know that he is their passing game." But Shannon Sharpe also added a big point about how Lamar is always the wingman when the team gets hit down: “But Lamar is also the engine of running games." Is this a big thing to worry about? When you come to the looks of it, Lamar has been looked at as the golden child of the team.  As for the rest of them, they are mostly looked at as listeners and obedient players. If this were truly the situation, the team would be nowhere in the NFL. The Baltimore Ravens work together and make a plan on what to do and how to win the game. Lamar works with his team, not against his team.

Does Lamar Jackson really deserve the MVP award?

Now that we have seen Lamar Jackson improving and beating down the best players and teams, some people think that there might be a 50% chance he might win, but other people say there might be a 30% chance he might not win the MVP award. One of the analysts on Fox Sports recently said that the reason Lamar may not be this season’s MVP was because he isn’t “quarterback” enough while Superbowl winning player turned analyst Richard Sherman said that Lamar wasn’t his pick for MVP because his stats this season aren’t as good as they were when Jackson won the MVP in 2019.  On the other side, one ESPN analyst said, "Everybody's going to come at this and go, man, they beat the best team in football. Lamar had a great game last night. We're going to put the seal of approval on it and say Lamar Jackson is MVP.” In my opinion, Lamar does have the Ravens where they want to be: they’re the best team in the American Football Conference (AFC) and Lamar helped them get there.

This is not to put Lamar Jackson in his place based on how great he is doing, but based on how great he is doing and how he is helping his team be great too.  Based on that alone, Lamar's the Most Valuable Player of the NFL.  He is one of the best players I have ever seen. He has improved over the years and shown us what he can do and what talents he has. This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in American football.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. As a reminder, this is just my opinion on whether Lamar Jackson deserves the MVP award. Please let me know who you think deserves to win MVP.

“American Symphony” a short review

America Symphony was wondrous. Jon Batiste has this creative mindset that I have never seen in any other musician. Not only does he talk about his creativity in music, but he also shares his ideas as if he's giving us tips on becoming a musician. In the movie, he also shows a lot of love and care for his family and wife. This is one of the most important things when being known as an artist is to also stay close to family, even during bad times. He and his wife have been through a lot together, and they have healed a lot. They had so much on their hands and a lot of stuff to do, but they always made sure to talk to each other and talk about their problems. One thing I loved that Suleika Jaouad said was" it's not champagne or beautiful things, but it's about the hard things."