Analysis: Lamar Jackson is the league’s MVP

Lamar Jackson is the league’s MVP.

He is the first quarterback in NFL history with over 4,000 passing yards and over 800 rushing yards.

Lamar Jackson is the league’s MVP.

He is the first quarterback in NFL history to have at least 40 passing touchdowns and four or fewer interceptions in a season.

Lamar Jackson is the league MVP.

He has the 4th best quarterback passer rating in a single season in NFL history (119.6).

Lamar Jackson is the league MVP.

He is the first reigning MVP to throw 40 touchdown passes a year after winning the award.

Lamar Jackson is the league MVP.

The Ravens are the first team in NFL history with over 4,000 passing yards and over 3,000 rushing yards. Jackson is responsible for nearly 27% of the rushing yards.

Lamar Jackson is the league MVP.

They say it becomes a trend when you continue to say and/or do something. If I type it enough times, it’s possible it can become true. Currently, Jackson is not the favorite for the MVP award (Bills’ Josh Allen is the current favorite on multiple betting sites). But men lie, women lie, numbers don’t lie. Lamar Jackson is the league MVP.

Let me be honest for a second. I love Josh Allen. I think he’s a phenomenal quarterback who deserves his flowers. Allen has done more with less in 2024 and ended up with a better record than Jackson and the Ravens. It’s commendable. It should be acknowledged. However, it is not the only metric that should matter when having MVP conversations. 

The Bills play six games in the AFC East, where three out of four teams are .500 or below. As a result, they secured their division win by Week 13. The Ravens’ AFC North consists of three teams that are above .500, two playoff teams and one team that didn’t make it but was on the outside trying to get in the final minutes of the regular season. While overcoming an 0-2 start at the beginning of the season, the Ravens secured their consecutive AFC North title in the final week of the regular season.

In comparison, the Ravens had the toughest strength of schedule for playoff teams and had the best strength of victory in 2024. This is all while the Ravens replaced three-fifths of their offensive line, had a new defensive coordinator and a new scheme, and rotated players during the new transition. So while the Bills have done more with less, they had a more favorable schedule that helped them reach their goal of winning the division in a shorter time.

Not enough to sway you? Let’s go to head-to-head stats. Lamar is ahead of Allen in every important category, including completion percentage, passing TDs, total TDs, interceptions, and QB rating, except for rushing TDs and overall record, which can be argued that this is a team stat and not a QB stat. 

Now why would I mention team stats vs QB stats? Because the Bills have won a game DESPITE Allen’s play this season. Follow me.

Against the Ravens, Texans, and Colts, Allen had a total of TWO touchdowns and an average quarterback rating of 63.6. In layman’s terms, this is mediocre football. The Bills were 1-2 in those games, beating the lowly Colts who did not make the playoffs while losing to the Texans and Ravens, both teams that have won their respective divisions.

In the last few weeks, analysts, pundits, and the like have worked hard to try and get you to believe that Allen deserves this award. Frank Schwab at Yahoo Sports asked if Jackson had done enough in their 35-10 win over the Browns to clinch the division. While the Browns were missing plenty of players and had a carousel of guys at quarterback, the Ravens covered the 20-point spread and Jackson had two passing touchdowns. Jerry Brewer from The Washington Post wrote that Allen “deserves the crown”, despite not leading Jackson in any major individual category minus rushing TDs. Other analysts have even added Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow into the MVP conversation, despite not making the playoffs in 2024. Even Tony Romo added his two cents when he said the quiet part out loud, saying that Allen could, “get the edge only because Lamar has two”.

We’ve seen this story before. Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets was denied a third consecutive MVP because of voter fatigue. A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces was denied a consecutive MVP for the same reason. And while Joel Embiid and Breanna Stewart were absolutely in the MVP conversation, neither were as dominant as their counterparts.

If the MVP award is going to be an award for guys you feel sorry for, then say it out loud. Say that you are tired of Jackson being dominant and want someone else to have a chance to win. But to simply say weeks in advance that the MVP race was “over” and should be “unanimous”  in Allen’s favor, as ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky and FS1’s Emmanuel Acho said, is not only biased but disingenuous in every way imaginable.

The Ravens are preparing for their wild-card playoff game at home against the Steelers this Saturday. And while I’m sure Jackson has the Super Bowl on his mind, it’s the principle of it all. A team that many thought would take a step back in 2024 due to all the changes has ended up winning their division, hosting a playoff game, and holding the honor of being one of the most prolific offenses in NFL history.

Lamar Jackson is the league’s MVP.

Lamar Jackson deserves his MV3.

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