Lamar Jackson has said often that he cares little for his critics. But there are exceptions to the rule.

His mom, for example.

It was charming, but also illuminating, two weeks ago when Jackson stepped to the podium after a loss to the Eagles, talking about his mother “cussing me out” for missing opportunities to run. Felicia Jones is one of the most important people in Jackson’s circle, his business manager as well as his mom.

But the reason her critiques ring true to Jackson is they echo what he already knows himself. After Wednesday’s practice, he shuffled from side to side with anxious energy as he spoke to the media: “I’m antsy right now. I’m hyped.”

He’s eager to get back to the only standard that matters — his own.

One of the most remarkable things about Jackson’s performance this season, which has him on pace to set a number of career bests, is how subdued any MVP candidacy has been. By any reasonable measure, he’s one of the front-runners, and he has more passing TDs, more passing yards, a higher completion rate, a higher quarterback rating and more rushing yards than Buffalo’s Josh Allen — not to mention that Jackson whipped Allen head to head. If Jackson won for the second straight year, he’d become just the seventh man in NFL history to bag three MVP awards.

Yet no one is talking about it, least of all Jackson. And, for once, I share his indifference.

These last four games of the regular season may define Jackson’s MVP case, but all that really matters is that Jackson plays as well as he knows (and his mother knows) he can. As long as he gets back to being the quarterback he was midseason, the Ravens should find their way back on track.

Whether he wins MVP is beside the point.

It sounds odd that Jackson, who is having one of the best seasons of any NFL quarterback, has gotten a little off track. But, as my colleague Jonas Shaffer pointed out in his analysis this week, his accuracy fell off in weeks 11 through 13, which just so happened to include two of the most consequential matchups of the season. In that three-game stretch, Jackson’s accuracy hovered around average.

While Jackson was arguably at his best last year in big-time tilts at San Francisco and at home against Detroit and Miami, this season it has been a bit of a soft spot. Against Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Jackson has struggled compared to the MVP standard he’s set in just about every other game he has played. He’s not without his great moments — he was breathtaking in both games against Cincinnati, and he shredded Tampa Bay on the road — but other times he’s been left hearing his mom’s critique’s ringing in his ear, to say nothing of his own regrets.

Jackson knows what his standard is. MVP trophies mean little to him, but don’t get confused — he still wants to be the best.

“I’m going to try to play MVP level every game I’m in,” Jackson said Wednesday. “I don’t think about anything like that — don’t get me wrong — because I feel like the world should know what my goal is. But I just have to focus on [one] game at a time … I don’t really care about me being MVP Lamar — I feel like I’m doing that regardless.”

There are times when Jackson passes up running lanes, when he holds on to the ball too long. But I accept Jackson and John Harbaugh’s reasoning about this. Because Jackson is so adept at running, there are times when viewers expect the Lamar they’ve seen in the past. He’s come so far as a passer that he can be trusted to err with a little more time behind the line of scrimmage. Even with an offensive line that has struggled this season, Jackson has been sacked only 19 times, well below pace for last year’s total (37).

Even though his mom wonders if he could have run it more — and maybe the Ravens should run Jackson a little more than they do — in general, Jackson finds it amusing that the knock on him has switched from not throwing enough to being too committed to throw.

“I don’t know. Pick your poison,” Jackson said with a chuckle. “[People say] ‘OK, man, you need to run more.’ Then I’m running a little more, [then people say] ‘Oh, he was open,’ or something like that. … I feel like that’s good, because it’s like I’m balanced in a way. So that’s cool.”

The going has been difficult for a few weeks for this franchise, and as much as that has to do with a defense that’s regressed, with a kicker who has flagged, with an offense that has dealt with inconsistency, Jackson is the most important piece of the formula. If he can come out of the bye healthy and with the same focus he showed in weeks 3 through 10, he can almost single-handedly shift the team’s prospects. We’ve seen it before.

If Jackson does earn a third MVP — which seems in doubt given the Ravens’ record and voters’ apparent doting on Allen — it won’t be meaningless. But the most important meaning it could have is Jackson reaching his potential and again becoming the quarterback the Ravens have seen him to be this season, the one capable of leading them back to Super Bowl glory.

There are already trinkets lining Jackson’s locker in Owings Mills. He’s gotten a “Himmy” award from ESPN for his Week 9 performance against Denver. This week, Madden sent him golden cleats to commemorate his 99 rating in the video game — the highest rating in the settings.

But Jackson has never allowed his ceiling to be set by anyone outside his circle, least of all a few lines of code. If there’s another level to reach, he needs to reach it — whether or not it comes with the corresponding decoration for his personal trophy case.