Dan Orlovsky Defends His Josh Allen MVP Split Vote
Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
The MVP is the award in sports with the most confusing narrative. Some believe it rewards the player who adds the most value to their team (it does). Some believe it should reward the best statistical player. Others believe it should reward the player whose wow factor play warrants the most “MVP!” chants.
Josh Allen was named MVP, despite not being named First team All-Pro. It’s the first season since 1987 that a quarterback who was the sole MVP winner was not named a first team All-Pro (John Elway was MVP, Joe Montana was First Team All-Pro). While Ravens fans and half the football world are freaking out of over this discrepancy, one of the people who voted Allen for MVP and Lamar for First Team All-Pro, Dan Orlovsky, stated his case.
“First Team All-Pro and MVP are different awards,” Orlovsky said. “The value that the player brought to their football team. The Bills were the number two seed. Josh had a 40 touchdown, eight turnover, 14 sack season. 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 had the upper hand.“
Not only is he right on, but he helped explain what the MVP award actually is supposed to mean. One year after Lamar Jackson won MVP despite significantly worse stats than he had last year, Allen provided more value to his team despite being the less impressive statistical quarterback. Lamar’s production took a massive leap the moment Derrick Henry became problem 1A on Baltimore’s offense. Allen, however, only had one receiver with above 600 receiving yards (Khalil Shakir, who had 821), and James Cook, his bell cow running back, eclipsed 1,000 yards by the skin of his teeth.
It’s an award with a confusing narrative, but it became abundantly clear that the entirety of the Bills offense ran through Number 17. The value that he provides to the Bills is indispensable, even if his statistics aren’t gaudy enough to be the best in the league. Taking finally home the Most Valuable Player award finally shows that the NFL world recognized what Bills Mafia knew all along.
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