In nearly any other NFL season, Lamar Jackson would be the runaway favorite for Most Valuable Player.
Already a two-time NFL MVP, the dual-threat quarterback wrapped up his career-best regular season Saturday night by leading his Baltimore Ravens past the Cleveland Browns to clinch the AFC North and the conference’s No. 3 seed.
Jackson, 27, finished the season with 4,172 passing yards and 41 passing touchdowns, both of which marked career highs. His four interceptions were his fewest as a full-time starter.
He added 915 rushing yards — his most since 2020 — and four more touchdowns on the ground.
In doing so, Jackson became the first player in NFL history to pass for at least 4,000 yards and rush for at least 800 in a single season.
He is the first quarterback to throw more than 40 touchdown passes and fewer than five interceptions in a season.
His 119.6 passer rating is the fourth-best single-season mark in NFL history, trailing only two seasons by Aaron Rodgers and one by Peyton Manning.
“He’s just one of a kind,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said after Saturday’s 35-10 win. “There’s nobody like Lamar Jackson. … He wants everything to be perfect. Everything. That’s why these numbers are the way they are, because of who he is.”
Yet Jackson faces stiff competition to add another MVP trophy to his collection. So stiff, in fact, that most oddsmakers didn’t even consider Jackson the favorite entering Week 18.
That distinction belonged to Josh Allen, who, despite losing his top two receiving targets — including perennial Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs — last offseason, delivered another dominant campaign and led the Buffalo Bills to their latest AFC East crown.
With the Bills already locked into the AFC’s No. 2 seed, Allen played one snap Sunday against the New England Patriots to extend his streak to 105 consecutive starts, then gave way to backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
Allen, 28, finished the regular season with 3,731 passing yards, 28 touchdown passes, a 101.4 passer rating, 531 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns.
He threw a career-low six interceptions in what was his first full season under offensive coordinator Joe Brady. He took only 14 sacks — a credit to the Bills’ stout offensive line and Allen’s elite escapability.
It was Allen’s fifth consecutive season with at least 40 total touchdowns and his second in a row with at least 28 touchdown passes and 12 rushing scores.
This year, however, he did it with an unheralded supporting cast that did little to replace Diggs, who was traded to the Houston Texans, or Gabe Davis, who signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the offseason.
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with 821 receiving yards over the 16 games Allen played before Sunday’s brief appearance. No other Buffalo receiver had more than 525.
The Bills attempted to bolster their offense with a midseason trade for five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper, but the 30-year-old managed only 20 receptions, 297 yards and two touchdowns in eight games with Buffalo.
Entering Sunday’s game against the Patriots, 13 different Bills players — including Allen on a trick play — had recorded a receiving touchdown, tying a single-season NFL record.
Jackson had more to work with, particularly after the Ravens’ offseason signing of superstar running back Derrick Henry. Henry rushed for 1,921 yards, 16 touchdowns and 5.9 yards per carry this season, despite turning 31 on Saturday, and prevented opposing defenses from solely focusing on stopping Jackson.
“Josh Allen is the MVP,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said last week. “I’ve been around this league long enough to know, to see MVPs every year for many years, and what he has done on this team and this organization, in this community, and no offense to anybody else, but I have a hard time believing that someone’s done more.”
It could work in Allen’s favor that he’s never won the award despite his annual excellence.
“I don’t really care about that,” Allen told CBS with a smile of his MVP chances after beating the Jets, 40-14, last week.
And then there’s Joe Burrow, whose MVP odds are much longer after the Cincinnati Bengals finished 9-8, despite a historic season by the quarterback.
Burrow’s 4,918 passing yards were the 22nd most in a single season, while his 43 touchdown passes were tied for the 10th most.
He became the first quarterback in NFL history with eight consecutive games of at least 250 passing yards and three touchdown passes.
Burrow’s 70.6% completion percentage marked a career high, while his nine interceptions were the fewest he’s thrown in a non-injury-shortened season.
But Burrow and the Bengals were burned by a bad offensive line and an even worse defense, putting them in a 4-8 hole to start the season.
Burrow led Cincinnati to five consecutive wins in Weeks 14-18 to keep the Bengals’ playoff hopes alive going into the final day of the regular season.
It’s worth noting Jackson, Allen and Burrow’s gaudy statistics came in the fourth year of the NFL regular season being 17 games, as opposed to 16 as it was previously. In some cases, such as yardage and touchdowns, the extra game helped pad stats. In others, such as interceptions and sacks, it made lower totals even more impressive.
The seasons put together by Jackson, Allen and Burrow were so epic that they earned the three quarterback spots on the AFC’s Pro Bowl roster.
That meant Patrick Mahomes, who led the Kansas City Chiefs to a 15-1 record in his 16 starts, was left off of the Pro Bowl roster for the first time in his seven seasons as a starter.
Mahomes, of course, will get the last laugh should he lead the Chiefs to a third consecutive Super Bowl title and his fourth overall. Jackson, Allen and Burrow are all seeking their first.
“I’m focused on the wild-card game. I’m not going to lie to you,” Jackson said after Saturday’s win. “I’m cool with what’s going on today. I’m cool, don’t get me wrong, but my mind’s on something else.”