Josh Allen? Lamar Jackson? Saquon Barkley? Joe Burrow UK NFL fans, how do you cast your vote?
The MVP race has taken on the feel of a political campaign (minus the bad tans, dad dancing and red baseball caps…most of the time), from the social media stage to the effusive eulogies making the case for their respective candidates.
With that comes a fascinating insight into how football is perceived among fans, how the quarterback position is perceived, how wins are perceived and how the MVP award is perceived.
As the playoffs approach, the various paths of the campaign have reached their final stages. But is it a two-horse race? Or fatal quadrilateral.
Josh Allen posted what will likely be his final argument on Sunday when he threw two touchdowns while rushing for another as the Buffalo Bills torched the New York Jets 40-14 to clinch the No. 2 seed. In the AFC, the star quarterback is now unlikely to play on the final day of the regular season.
It capped off an incredible December in which Allen threw 18 touchdowns to just one turnover, seeing him become the first player in NFL history to post five consecutive 40-yard campaigns in the process.
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Amari Cooper leaps to the house for a great 30-yard catch for the Buffalo Bills against the New York Jets.
“At the end of the day, Josh Allen is the MVP,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said. “I’ve been around long enough to see the MVP every year for many years on this team and in this organization in this community, and no offense to anyone, but I have a hard time believing that someone has done more, I really do believe that.”
Allen has yet to win an MVP in his illustrious NFL career as he continues to lead Buffalo’s long-awaited Super Bowl chase entire team with the most chaos-inducing arm in the league and the ability to fool defenders like a quarterback.
With Sunday’s showing, Allen is on pace to finish the regular season 307-of-483 for 3,731 yards, 28 touchdowns and six interceptions while rushing for 531 yards and 12 scores as the final lift to a young offense that, despite the talent and production of James Cook, is using is his run far less often than his Super Bowl opponents.
“I don’t know what else he could do,” Spencer Brown said are “Oh, that’s Charles Barkley’s MVP.” I’m like. Ah, he’s the only player who ever does. I’m not voting.
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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s best play of the 2024 NFL season so far
For many, his fiercest competition comes in the form of two-time MVP Lamar Jackson, who just put on otherworldly throwing and scrimmage clinics while throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for another to make the Houston Texans look more than ordinary on Christmas Day, 31-2 score win.
Jackson has now thrown for 3,955 yards and 39 touchdowns to just four interceptions, a league-high 77.9 quarterback rating and a league-high EPA+CPOE composite, and has also rushed for 852 yards and four touchdowns, just breaking Michael Vick’s NFL record for most rushing is yards by a quarterback.
With Derrick Henry’s help, he finished 1st in yards, 5th in passing, 2nd in rushing, 3rd in scoring and 2nd in EPA/game, making up for the second-worst ranked defense and 14th in EPA in /play.
“I think Josh Allen might get the edge just because Lamar had two. If Josh had two, you’re going to go with the guy who doesn’t have one, that’s just human nature,” CBS’s Tony said. Romo.
“I’d just go with the record. One’s got two losses. So that guy, if it’s that close, it’s hardly an advantage. Lamar beat him head-to-head. Now I think Lamar is affecting the game with Derrick Henry. I’m fine with both of them.”
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Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley’s best game so far of the 2024 NFL season
Elsewhere in Week 17, Saquon Barkley rushed for 167 yards to help the Philadelphia Eagles clinch the NFC East division title with a 41-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, becoming the ninth player in NFL history to do so in a season rushed for 2,000 yards while needing just 101 yards in the final game of the season to surpass Eric Dickerson’s long-standing record 2,105 rushing yards per season.
Barkley rushed for 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns on 345 carries, along with 33 catches for 278 yards and two scores, accounting for 38 percent of the Eagles’ total yards in his first season since moving from New York.
A running back hasn’t been named MVP since Adrian Peterson won the award in 2012, with only 13 running backs winning the award in the Super Bowl era. So the odds are slim with such dominant quarterback competition, and Christian McCaffrey is a testament to that. after he fell out of the conversation despite his team-leading 2,023 yards and 21 touchdowns last year after touches.
Still, for Barkley to remain in that conversation this past week is a testament to his impact. If not MVP, Barkley still has a chance to make history by breaking Dickerson’s record against his former team, even if his priorities lie with postseason success.
“Whatever his decision is, I’m in favor of it,” Barkley said. “If his mindset is, go out and try, we’re going to go out and try it, if his mindset is, let’s relax and get ready for this run, I’m all for that too.
“I’m not trying too hard to get it. I’d like to do it. But at the end of the day, we have bigger things to focus on.”
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Joe Burrow made an incredible pass to Tee Higgins as he scored for the Cincinnati Bengals.
And Joe Burrow underscored why he deserves the consideration on Saturday as he went 39-of-49 for 412 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for a score to help the Cincinnati Bengals keep their season alive with a 30-24 overtime win. winning against the Denver Broncos.
Burrow now leads the league in completions (424) and passing yards (4,641) with 42 touchdowns to just eight interceptions, guiding the Bengals on a four-game winning streak that took them from 4-8 to somehow still not playing. a chance to make the playoffs on the final weekend.
His heroics salvaged what looked like a lost campaign against a Bengals defense that is sixth in passing yards, ninth in passing and fourth in scoring this season.
Take him out of the equation and the Bengals are dead and buried long before Dec. Should he defy the odds and lead Cincinnati to the playoffs, isn’t that the definition of “most valuable player”?
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Justin Jefferson makes a ridiculous catch but is unfortunately ruled out for an offensive foul on the play as the Minnesota Vikings play the Green Bay Packers.
“I don’t know that anybody can stand on the field and watch Joe Burrow and not say he’s the best player in the world,” Bengals head coach Zach Taylor said. “I wouldn’t trade Joe Burrow for any player in the universe. For me, that’s the MVP.”
Allen is the face of the Bills’ entire operation, without a Derrick Henry or Ja’Mar Chase -esque focal point to wreak havoc with, instead relying on an “everyone eats” offense, holding weekly auditions for notable contributions.
Jackson continues to break the boundaries of NFL quarterback defenses as the greatest two-way threat the league has ever seen; Baltimore’s touchdown machine erases run defense concerns that would be much more pressing with a different face under center.
Burrow is playing the best football of any quarterback in the NFL as he has led the Bengals out of a hole as perhaps the most proven and most dangerous threat to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
And Barkley is on the cusp of history, transforming the Eagles’ offense with one of the greatest seasons the running game has seen.
Good luck, voters.
Watch every NFL play-off game throughout January, followed by Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Sunday, February 9, live on Sky Sports NFL.
