The Baltimore Ravens have come to life in the second half of the season after an up-and-down start. That's in big part to the efforts of Lamar Jackson, who is still very much in the MVP conversation even if some people think it belonged to Josh Allen for weeks now.
Jackson, a two-time MVP winner, put on a clinic in the Ravens' blowout win over the Texans on Christmas Day and in doing so, made NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky walk back his comments declaring the MVP race over a few weeks back. The Bills after seeing what Jackson and the Ravens offense did to the Texans, knew that Allen would have to up the ante if he wanted to remain as the "favorite" for MVP.
The Bills waited until they were up 33-0 over the Jets before making a switch at quarterback. Allen finished his day with 182 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, 17 rushing yards, and one rushing touchdown. In comparison, Jackson had 168 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, 87 rushing yards, and one rushing touchdown in the Ravens' win over Houston.
Ravens fans couldn't help but roll their eyes at Bills leaving Josh Allen in the game
The Bills had complete and total control while Allen was still in the game but with Jackson still a major threat to the Bills quarterback for the MVP title, they risked injury to try and pad the stats. No one knows how the award decision will go but Jackson has done plenty to prove he deserves his third MVP title.
Unfortunately for Jackson, it wouldn't be surprising if Allen was crowned MVP this season because he doesn't have an MVP yet. Jackson has won it twice (2019 and 2023) and that might end up costing him the award for 2024. That's not necessarily fair but if the decision-makers want to make it "easier", that might be what they base things off of.
The good news, at least where the MVP race is concerned, is that Jackson and the Ravens will still have plenty to play for in Week 18 and the Ravens signal-caller can continue to ball out. Meanwhile, the Bills won't have anything else to play for. They're locked in as the two-seed. That means that Allen might not even play in the season finale, opening things up for Jackson to pad his stats and earn his third-straight MVP award.