Buffalo Rumblings
It’s officially Week 9 in the NFL, and Most Valuable Player (MVP) discussions are beginning to heat up. The NFL posted the graphic below on social media Tuesday afternoon, showing what is presumably the top four candidates entering Week 9: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor.
This leads me to the big question: Does Josh Allen deserve to be here, even if he is the reigning NFL MVP? I certainly don’t believe so. In fact, I think you could make the case that his teammate, running back James Cook, is a more qualified candidate right now. Among running backs, Cook ranks first in both yards per game (107.6) and yards per carry (6.0), as well as fourth in touchdowns (7).
Allen ranks 20th in passing yards (1,560), 14th in completion percentage (68.0%) and eighth in yards per passing attempt. The Bills’ passing game hasn’t looked great, largely due to the lack of weapons, but that case was pleaded last season, except Allen played out of his mind.
If not for his epic fourth-quarter comeback in Week 1 when he threw for 251 yards, he’d have four games with less than 200 passing yards. I was expecting the bye to be just what JA17 needed to get back on track, and while Buffalo won by 31 points, he left quite a few plays and points on the table.
Entering Week 9, however, Allen has a chance to get back into legitimate MVP discussions as he prepares to face his postseason Achilles heel in Mahomes and the Chiefs. It’s usually a different story in the regular season, however, and I’m expecting a fired-up Allen to show up.
I’d give Mahomes the edge as the MVP favorite right now, although there are cases to be made for Maye, Taylor and others. Quarterback Baker Mayfield has received lots of buzz, and Taylor’s teammate in quarterback Daniel Jones may be worthy of this conversation at the moment.
If it comes down to “take X player off the team, and how would the team perform” rationalizing, can we really give Allen that edge over Mahomes, or even Maye — at least in this moment? Cook is playing otherworldly football right now—do either Kansas City or New England have that type of player to help carry the load like Allen has?
The current situation for Allen feels a lot like the discussions many had about quarterback Lamar Jackson last season. Many people pointed to running back Derrick Henry’s production and his overall importance as a hindrance to Jackson’s MVP candidacy.
