Buffalo Rumblings
Josh Allen wasn’t the All-Pro quarterback, but he still won MVP.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was named MVP on Thursday night, but that seemed like a pretty big longshot in January. That’s because Allen wasn’t named to the All-Pro team, at least not the first team.
That distinction went to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. Jackson finished second in the MVP voting by the slimmest of margins, with Allen securing the necessary points to overcome the two-time winner from Baltimore.
Allen earned 27 first-place votes to Jackson’s 23 yet the same group of voters went 30 votes to Jackson and 18 votes to Allen in the All-Pro voting. I guess some people did really sway from “Best QB” to “Most Valuable”.
The crux of this conversation may have come down to the word “Valuable” in the definition of the award. The Associated Press does not define that term for voters, so it’s up to them to figure it out.
You can see a world where Jackson may be the best quarterback in a season while Allen is the “Most Valuable Player” to his team or in the league, especially with Jackson having both a first-team (Patrick Ricard) and a second-team player (Derrick Henry) on his offense while Allen had zero.
The other thing to consider is that historically, wins and losses have played a pretty big role in the MVP voting. No MVP has had five losses since 2016, but Matt Ryan’s Falcons were the two seed in the NFC postseason.
It’s been even longer since the MVP came from a team that wasn’t in the top two playoff seeds. The Indianapolis Colts were the four seed in 2014 when Peyton Manning won, one game behind the first-place Patriots and tied with the Steelers for third.
You have to go back to the 2012 season for the last time the first-team All-Pro quarterback wasn’t also named MVP. In 2012, Minnesota Vikings RB Adrian Peterson rushed for 2097 yards while adding 217 yards through the air, a truly remarkable accomplishment.
Voting was different back then, but Peterson received 36 votes to Peyton Manning’s eight with Tom Brady, Calvin Johnson, and Aaron Rodgers all nabbing two each.
Peterson was the first-team All-Pro running back that year.
In 2003, Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair was named second-team All-Pro and MVP in the same season. He tied in MVP voting with Peyton Manning, so one of the MVPS was the first-team quarterback, but the other was not.
You have to go all the way back to 1987 to find the last time the league’s MVP wasn’t also voted first-team All-Pro. Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway received 36 MVP votes, beating out San Francisco 49ers’ receiver Jerry Rice (30) and 49ers’ quarterback Joe Montana (18). Montana and Rice canceled...
