ExtremeRavens Posted February 8 Posted February 8 When Josh Allen was named NFL Most Valuable Player for the 2024 regular season Thursday night at the league’s annual awards show, it came as a surprise to many. While the Buffalo Bills quarterback entered the night as the betting favorite to take home the award for the first time, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was considered a strong candidate to win it a second straight time and third overall following a record-setting year. In the closest race since Matt Ryan beat out Tom Brady in 2016, Allen got 27 first-place votes to Jackson’s 23. Allen also finished third on one ballot, and Jackson was fourth on another, but that had no impact on the winner. For the past 11 seasons, being named the AP first-team All-Pro quarterback — as Jackson was last month — was a prelude to winning the MVP award. But this marked just the third time since the AP started handing out the award in 1961 that a player won at least a share of the MVP after not being voted first-team All-Pro. The debate between Allen and Jackson was already contentious among both Ravens and Bills fans, and that boiled over Thursday night and into Friday when fans, players and media members learned the results. Here’s a sample of some of the reaction: Josh Allen “I was pretty surprised, yeah,” Allen said at his news conference Thursday night. “Given what we know about how typically voting goes. Lamar was very deserving of this award as well. I’ve got nothing but love and respect for his game. He’s a great steward of the game, and every time we share a field, I’m very fortunate to be mentioned in the same breath as him.” Jonathan Ogden, former Ravens left tackle and Hall of Famer “I get it,” Ogden told TMZ. “Cause [Josh] is a great quarterback, he hadn’t won one — Lamar had two. And they’re like, ‘Let’s just give him one.’ “But that’s the wrong reason. But it’s all good. What are you going to do? But they made the wrong choice. But that’s all good. “I don’t want it to sound like I’m hating on Josh because the brother is a tremendous quarterback. But he didn’t have the year Lamar had.” Rashod Bateman, Ravens wide receiver “He was robbed. He was robbed,” Bateman said on a podcast with NBC Sports ahead of Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans. “I hope I don’t get in trouble for this … It’s definitely more behind-the-scenes of what’s going on. That’s just the world we live in. Because it’s night and day. Lamar was All-Pro, and he doesn’t win MVP? “He had him beat in every category, so like, bro, what are we looking at? Even if he was my teammate or wasn’t my teammate, it’s like, bro, what are we looking at? “Respect to Josh, we all know that he’s an amazing player. But, I mean, when you’re watching the game and looking at the numbers, what are we valuing to give these people the accolades and make it feel earned and deserved? Right now it’s just handed out everywhere.” Robert Griffin III, former NFL quarterback “There is no reason for a MVP Voter and All-Pro Voter to split their votes on Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen,” Griffin posted on X. “If you voted Josh Allen as the MVP, he should have gotten the 1st team All-Pro vote. “If you voted Lamar Jackson 1st team All-Pro, he should have gotten the MVP vote too. “Splitting the vote and explaining value vs better makes zero sense because if it’s about value then Patrick Mahomes would in MVP every year. Mahomes is the most valuable player to his team.” Torrey Smith, former Maryland star and Ravens wide receiver “I’d like to start a petition to remove Jim Miller’s MVP voting privileges,” Smith posted on X. “Choosing Josh over Lamar, crazy but understandable. “Having Lamar Jackson at 4th place….CRIMINAL!” Mina Kimes, ESPN analyst and MVP voter “It was a dead heat. It was extremely close,” Kimes said on ESPN’s “NFL Live” from New Orleans. “The only wrong take on MVP is that it was obvious between these two guys, because it was not obvious and it came down to the wire. “I will say, the reason why I voted for Lamar really quickly: 4,000 passing yards, 900 rushing yards, first quarterback to ever do that. Almost broke the record for [single-season] passer rating. Played a harder slate of defenses and then in their head-to-head matchup came out on top [35-10 in Week 4]. That was the difference for me. “I know with the Bills, people point to Allen being more valuable because of the pieces around him … I do think people underrate how good that [Bills] offensive line is. I do take that into consideration. But like I said, this was very close.” Dan Orlovsky, ESPN analyst, former NFL quarterback and MVP voter “The Bills were the No. 2 seed. Josh had a 40-touchdown, 8-turnover, 14-sack season,” Orlovsky said on ESPN’s “Get Up” on Friday. “The Bills didn’t have an elite defense. The Bills had a very good run game, not a great run game. They didn’t have elite perimeter players in any regard. The way that Josh played this season, and the different style that he played, brought tremendous value to their football team. “Lamar’s season was absolutely sensational. He was probably the best player in football this year; or Ja’Marr Chase; or Saquon Barkley. But value, and how much you impact your team, who you do it with and who you do it against — that’s where I thought Josh Allen had the upper hand.” Dominque Foxworth, ESPN analyst, Maryland graduate and former NFL cornerback In reply to Orlovsky on ESPN’s “Get Up”: “I’m glad we have Dan here to defend him and the people who did this but it does feel like you’re trying to split the baby. You don’t got the heart to say what you actually want to say. I think both of them had MVP-caliber seasons, but it feels like you are trying to find some little semantics trap door. You can give this to him and that to them, because you don’t actually want to say what you really want to say. “This is the semantics foolishness that we do. This is what you do. You say ‘value’ and the cool thing about value gives us on these shows a way to argue because you can twist it and turn it any way you want. Normally, MVP means ‘who is the best damn dude in the league’ and to me, obviously, Josh Allen had an MVP-caliber season, but the best damn dude in the league this year was the guy who was first-team All-Pro.” Emmanuel Acho, Fox Sports host, former NFL player and MVP voter “It’s the Most Valuable player,” Acho posted on X. “Not the “best player,” that’s the All Pro. “Not the “best damn dude award,” that’s made up. “Not the “most outstanding player,” that’s the Heisman.” Jordan Schultz, Fox Sports NFL Insider “I was digging through last night’s voting results, and I still can’t wrap my head around this — someone actually had Lamar Jackson fourth on their MVP ballot. Fourth?! That’s beyond ridiculous,” Schultz posted on X. “There might not be a clearer sign of voter fatigue than that.” Lindsay Jones, The Ringer staff writer/editor and MVP voter “Ultimately, this year it came down to the two quarterbacks, and it felt impossible to choose,” Jones wrote in a piece for The Ringer explaining her reasoning for splitting her vote between All-Pro and MVP. “I am confident that (a) both Jackson and Allen were deserving of the league’s highest individual honor, and (b) MVP is not strictly an award for the best quarterback, so voting one of them for All-Pro didn’t mean he automatically had to be my MVP. The phrasing of “Most Valuable” is extremely vague, and open to plenty of interpretation of what it actually means. To me, the MVP award is open to narrative considerations, a player’s career arc, the roster decisions made around him, and expectations for any particular season, in a way that — again, to me — All-Pro voting is not. In considering (and considering and considering) Jackson vs. Allen, I opened myself up to the possibility that some great quarterback plays and moments carried more weight than others this season. … So splitting my ballot was my way of acknowledging that Jackson played quarterback better than anyone this season, while Allen was the defining, and yes, most valuable, football character of the regular season.” Aaron Schatz, FTN Fantasy writer and MVP voter “My All-Pro Ballot article included a long discussion of why I voted for Lamar Jackson over Josh Allen as my first-team All-Pro quarterback. The short version is that while many advanced stats had the two players neck and neck, DVOA and DYAR had Jackson with a clearly more valuable season,” Schatz wrote. “I’m open to arguments that Jackson has better teammates and therefore Allen has to do more to carry his team, but I don’t know how valid they are. Yes, I’m about to vote for Derrick Henry for Offensive Player of the Year (spoiler alert) but James Cook is also very good. The Ravens probably have better receivers than the Bills, but they don’t really have great receivers or a deep receiver room. The Ravens and Bills were third and fourth, respectively, in ESPN’s pass block win rate, so that doesn’t seem like a big difference between the teams. Maybe the difference in teammates makes up a small gap in DYAR, but this was a much larger gap.” Justin Penik, Jomboy Media host “Lamar Jackson just had one of the most unique and awesome QB seasons we’ve ever seen and didn’t win MVP simply because voters probably didn’t want to give him the award on back to back years and preferred to give it to a first time winner? Pretty sure majority of the NFL world would agree Lamar deserved it,” Penik posted on X. The Associated Press contributed to this article. Have a news tip? Contact sports editor C.J. Doon at cdoon@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/CJDoon. View the full article Quote
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