The Baltimore Ravens just rolled the Giants 35-14, with Lamar Jackson putting on a clinic—five touchdown passes, only four incompletions, and total mastery of the game. But somehow, according to ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky, none of that matters.
Orlovsky has had some questionable takes in his time as an analyst (last season's MVP voting), but his latest one might be his worst yet. With three weeks left in the NFL regular season, Orlovsky got on ESPN’s Get Up and prematurely declared the MVP race over.
According to Dan, Josh Allen is your 2024 MVP, and there’s “pretty much nothing that could change that.” Excuse me? Did we all just time travel to the end of January?
.@danorlovsky7 has Josh Allen locked in as the NFL's most valuable player 🤩
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) December 16, 2024
"The MVP race is over." pic.twitter.com/eK860dreRJ
To be clear, Allen’s recent play has been impressive—there’s no denying that. But the NFL MVP is a regular-season award decided over 17 games, not 14. There’s still football to be played, and dismissing guys like Lamar Jackson this early is flat-out ridiculous. The take wasn’t just premature—it was lazy.
MVP race is over
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) December 16, 2024
And here’s the kicker: Lamar Jackson and the Ravens dismantled Josh Allen and the Bills back in Week 4, 35-10. So if we’re crowning MVPs based on stretches of play, shouldn’t head-to-head domination matter too? Or does that conveniently not fit the narrative?
Dan Orlovsky prematurely calling the MVP race with 3 games left shows why he doesn't deserve a vote
Let’s lay this out. Orlovsky’s reasoning hinges on Allen’s flashy stat lines over the past two weeks—400-yard games, touchdowns galore, and no turnovers. It’s a great run, sure. But just look at the body of work both QBs have produced throughout the season. Lamar Jackson smokes Allen in almost every statistical category:
Lamar Jackson vs. Josh Allen through Week 15
— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) December 16, 2024
For you viewing pleasure pic.twitter.com/0fRnXVFl3K
Here’s what makes Orlovsky’s take even worse: the Ravens’ upcoming schedule is far tougher than Buffalo’s. Over the next two weeks, Lamar will face playoff-caliber defenses in Pittsburgh and Houston. Allen, on the other hand, gets the lowly Jets and Patriots—two teams that look like they’re allergic to scoring points.
If Lamar balls out against playoff teams and Allen pads stats against basement dwellers, is the race still “over”?
And let’s not forget the MVP award is about value to the team. Lamar’s led Baltimore to a 9-5 record despite the Ravens ranking near the bottom of the league in special teams and defensive EPA. If Justin Tucker hadn't fallen apart earlier in the season, single-handedly blowing games, and the Ravens were 11-3, would Allen still be a lock?
Allen could very well win the MVP award, and that's fine. If he earns it for the entire body of work for the 2024 season, then go get your hardware, king. However, disregarding roughly 20 percent of the season just because Allen performed well against a strong team is a disgrace to everyone in the MVP conversation, not just Jackson.
Declaring the MVP race over with three games left isn’t bold—it’s lazy. It ignores the bigger picture, dismisses what guys like Lamar have done all season, and straight-up disrespects the process. Dan Orlovsky may have been a backup quarterback in the NFL, but his MVP analysis deserves a one-way trip to the bench. Let’s let the final whistle blow before we hand out trophies.