• Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen won the NFL MVP award over Lamar Jackson and other top contenders.
• While other players had better statistical seasons, Allen was crucial to the Bills’ success.

Josh Allen was named MVP of the NFL Thursday night, and predictably, social media platforms exploded and several of the bloviating morning talk show hosts were up in arms over what they perceived to be a gross injustice.

As Buffalo Bills fans proudly rejoiced because their guy became just the third winner of the award in team history, joining O.J. Simpson in 1973 and Thurman Thomas in 1991, outside Bills Nation you would think a crime against humanity had been committed when the Associated Press voting bloc denied Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson his third MVP.

The question I have on this Friday is, why are so many people so enraged over this? You would think the voters handed the award to Bills backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky rather than Allen.

Why I would have voted for Josh Allen to be NFL MVP

I don’t have a vote on the award, but if I did, Allen would have been my choice last year when he absolutely deserved it instead of Jackson, and this year as well, and that in no means has anything to do with bias. Believe me, that is not the case.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Allen was the MVP this season, and the key letter in that acronym is the middle one, the one that stands for “valuable.”

All of the other top four vote getters – Jackson, Saquon Barkley of the Eagles, Joe Burrow of the Bengals and Jared Goff of the Lions – had outstanding seasons and there is no arguing that point.

In fact, the numbers would tell you that statistically, those four had better seasons than Allen.

Jackson, Goff and Burrow finished 1-2-3 in passer rating; Burrow led the NFL in passing completions, yards, and TDs; Jackson threw 41 TDs, had only four interceptions, and he also ran for 915 yards to become the first player in NFL history to top 4,000 passing and 900 rushing in the same season; Goff led the Lions to a team-record 15 wins and finished second behind Burrow in passing yards and tied for third in passing TDs; and Barkley led the NFL in rushing with 2,005 as he became the ninth running back in history to top 2,000.

Josh Allen stats don’t tell the whole story

Meanwhile, Allen finished eighth in passer rating, 14th in yards, tied for seventh in TD passes, and he augmented those decent numbers with 531 rushing yards and 12 TDs which gave him 41 total TDs, fourth-most in the league. He also had just eight turnovers and was sacked a league-low 14 times.

Indeed, the numbers work against Allen and that’s why Jackson was properly selected by a very similar group of voters as the first-team All-Pro quarterback. That honor should go to the player with the best combination of statistics and team success and in 2024 that was Jackson, though curiously in 2023 that player was Allen, yet Jackson still got the nod, and even more ridiculous Dallas’ Dak Prescott beat out Allen for second-team recognition.

Buffalo Bills‘ success is because of Josh Allen

But here’s the thing: None of those players was as valuable to their team, or more responsible for their team’s success, than Allen was to the Bills. Where are the Bills as without their superstar quarterback? The Mafia won’t want to hear this, but they’re pretty mediocre is what they are.

Jackson is surrounded by stars in Baltimore as four of his teammates joined him on the first-and second All-Pro teams and the Ravens had a league-high nine players voted to the Pro Bowl.

Four Lions made the All-Pro teams and Goff was one of seven voted into the Pro Bowl. Burrow had the league’s No. 1 wide receiver in All-Pro Ja’Marr Chase, the league’s sack leader in Trey Hendrickson, and still the Bengals failed to make the playoffs. And Barkley, also surrounded by stars, is a running back and fair or not, that’s just not the same value as being a quarterback in the eyes of MVP voters.

Allen was Buffalo’s only All-Pro player, and the only other Bill who was initially selected for the Pro Bowl was left tackle Dion Dawkins, yet Allen led the Bills to 13 victories and a fifth straight AFC East division title, two impressive playoff victories, and was one failed possession away on the road in the AFC Championship Game from dethroning the Kansas City Chiefs and catapulting Buffalo to its first Super Bowl since the 1993 season.

Again, he did that with a roster that is certainly good, but one that sorely lacks in upper-echelon talent.

Look at the star-studded rosters of the two Super Bowl teams, the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles who had a combined 10 players selected first- or second-team All-Pro and 11 voted to the Pro Bowl. Take the quarterbacks out of the mix and then throw every player on the Bills, Chiefs and Eagles into a pool and pick one super team. How many Bills would be starters?

Maybe Christian Benford would be one of the cornerbacks as Pro Football Focus graded him as the sixth-best defender at the position, but Kansas City’s Trent McDuffie was a second-team All-Pro and Philadelphia’s Quinyon Mitchell made the NFL’s All-Rookie team and was very close to Benford in PFF’s grading.

Maybe Khalil Shakir as a slot receiver would get the nod, barely ahead of Philadelphia’s Devonta Smith and Kansas City’s Xavier Worthy, neither of whom were full-time slot receivers but might be more talented than Shakir.

And maybe Greg Rousseau at edge rusher ahead of George Karlaftis of the Chiefs, though that’s a coin flip as both players had eight sacks and Rousseau had a slight edge in pressures, 63-61.

Anyone else? Probably not.

Left tackle Dion Dawkins might be the Bills’ second-best player behind Allen, but Eagles LT Jordan Mailata was selected second-team All-Pro behind Tampa Bay’s Tristan Wirfs. And based on PFF grades, Wirfs and Mailata ranked 1-2 in overall performance among all tackles while Dawkins was 13th.

At the other tackle spot, Spencer Brown is not beating out second-team All-Pro Lane Johnson of the Eagles.

Are you taking James Cook at running back over Barkley? Ed Oliver at defensive tackle over Chris Jones of the Chiefs? The current version of linebacker Matt Milano over Philadelphia’s Zack Baun who just finished fifth in the NFL defensive player of the year vote? No, no, and no.

This is my case for why Allen was the right choice for MVP. No player shouldered the amount of burden as Allen, and delivered a performance like his.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at [email protected], and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social. Sign up for his Bills Blast newsletter here: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast