While Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen renew the MVP rivalry, their real competition remains the chiefs
One of the most awaited head-to-head clashes for the 2024 NFL season took place in New Orleans in February. It was not the Super Bowl.
This occurred three days earlier in a nearby theater.
At the end of the NFL annual prize program, Buffalo Bills Josh Allen’s quarterrier and his Baltimore Ravens counterpart, Lamar Jackson waited for the announcement of the most precious player in the League. Jackson had won the MVP honors in 2019 and 2023, and in the previous four months, had recorded the best statistical season of his seven -year career. This earned him all-pro honors in this position. Allen dragged into most of the statistical categories, but ended the season in tears.
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However, that night in New Orleans, it was Allen, not Jackson, who was appointed NFL MVP-the first in 21 years to win the award despite not being an all-pro selection from the first team.
“Voters have chosen who they wanted to choose,” Jackson told journalists this week. “It’s like that.”
One case could be made that the Buffalo match against Baltimore on Sunday during week 1 of the 2025 NFL season was scheduled from the date of this award, and the intrigue it triggered.
This marks the first meeting of week 1 between the quarters that finished first and second in the MVP race the previous season, according to NBC Sports research. But at the start of the new season, the real question is not whether Jackson or Allen will have an advantage over the other, but if one or the other can finally lead their team in front of Kansas City.
In the AFC, reaching the Super Bowl meant meeting the chiefs. They made the conference championship match for six consecutive seasons, a sequence which includes the refusal twice the appearances of the Super Bowl (in the 2020 and 2024 seasons) and the Ravens once (in 2023).
It is unusual for the quarters as accomplished as Jackson and Allen to have never played for a title of League at this stage of their career. Of the 28-quarters of the Professional Football Football Temple, 22 played in the Super Bowl or in the NFL championship (in the pre-bulle era) during the first seven seasons of their careers, according to Stathead. This talks about the fate that the chiefs held on the AFC under the coach Andy Reid and the quarter-Arrière Patrick Mahomes.
Since Allen and Jackson entered the league together in 2018, Baltimore has a 1-4 file against Kansas City, including 0-1 in the playoffs, while granting an average of 31.2 points. In the same period, the Ravens owned a percentage of 0.672 victories against the rest of the NFL while granting only 19.1 points. The Bills, on the other hand, are 4-1 against Kansas City in the regular season, but 0-4 in the playoffs, including 0-2 on the Buffalo field.
After the last defeat of the AFC championship last season, a journalist called Buffalo as a “city of losers”, a reference to the story of the twisted Big Game game which included four consecutive losses of the Super Bowl in the 1990s. Bills coach Sean McDermott said that one of his best goals was “to change the story of Buffalo” at Buffalo News.
“It bothers me. It makes me chew honestly, because people do not know this city. They do not know how difficult it is – to reach four consecutive super bowls. It will never happen again. ”
But will another appearance of Super Bowl invoices happen again? The bettors believe it, establishing invoices and ravens like the best favorites of betting to do this this season, according to the Draft Cooks.
The references of Jackson and Allen are like a few others in the history of the NFL. The 76 Victories of Allen, 262 affected and 30,595 yards are the most in history during the first seven career seasons of a quarter. He won the MVP honors last season in part because he had just become the first in his position to finish a season with at least 25 Touché passes, 10 hit on the ground and less than 10 interceptions.
Jackson, meanwhile, established his own story last season, becoming the first quarter of a quarter with more than 40 passes in touch and less than five interceptions – a line of statistics that reflected his development as a smuggler since his entry into the League as a devastating threat to take off and run.
“It is as good as any passer there has never been,” said Ravens coach John Harbaugh. “And I think now the figures prove it.”
Allen and the Bills are 3-2 against Jackson and the Ravens. Last season, the teams exchanged victories, the Ravens winning in a resounding rout at the start of the season only for the Bills to win a narrow victory for the playoffs.
“You’re talking about Lamar, he’s one of the best players to touch the grass, honestly,” said Allen this week. “You cannot give him more opportunities than it needs. You can’t give him short fields.”
Weekly scenarios 1 and clashes
Tampa Bay and Atlanta: Only Kansas City and Buffalo won more consecutive division titles than the four of Buccaneers. Michael Penix is entering his first full season as a quarterrier from Atlanta.
Cincinnati in Cleveland: Edge Rushers who ended the requests for business with new contracts takes the spotlights of the Browns Myles Garrett and Trey Hendrickson of Bengals. Hendrickson led the NFL in bags last season.
Miami in Indianapolis: The Wideout Tyreek Hill dolphins displays on average the most receptive yards of the opening matches of the season in the history of the NFL at 112 yards per match. He will need a big match to keep the coach Mike McDaniel de la Sellette.
Las Vegas in New England: The new coaches Pete Carroll and Mike Trébel pin their hopes on young offensive game leaders. Can Patriots Drake Maye’s quarterrier and the raiders run the Ashton Jeanty balloon delivered from the start?
Arizona in New Orleans: The saints leaving the quarterrier Spencer Rattle were 0-6 as a recruit, but his team won six consecutive seasonal openers. Arizona is trying to make the playoffs for the second time in the last decade.
Pittsburgh at the New York Jets: The Steelers quarterrier, Aaron Rodgers, maybe his last NFL season, faces his former team. In his last four season games, Rodgers combined for a touchdown and four interceptions.
Giants from New York to Washington: The commanders, under the quarter of the breakout star, Jayden Daniels, are trying to make the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1990-92. New York, which launched a pass of a hit in League-5 last season, brought in the new Starter Russell Wilson.
Carolina in Jacksonville: Look at how many Snaps second choice of global draft Travis Hunter receives both in attack and defense, and if the quarter of the panthers and the old choice n ° 1 Bryce Young can start this season as he finished the last – on a hot sequence.
Tennessee in Denver: Putting your faith in a first-year quarter, Bo Nix borne fruit for Denver last season. Will it be the same for the titans and the number 1 of Pick Cam Ward?
San Francisco in Seattle: Do the 49ers support Christian McCaffrey in fairly good health to play? Against what should be one of the best defenses in the League, the new $ 265 million man from 495, Brock Purdy, will need help.
Detroit to Green Bay: After losing the two coordinators against new jobs last season, can Lions maintain their murderous style? And how much will the new packers have an impact on the Rusher Micah Parsons in its early days from a Dallas business?
Houston in Los Angeles Rams: If the Texans, who break in four new starters on the offensive line, can protect the quarter-arre CJ Stroud, the Texans could be dangerous. The Rams Matthew Stafford Rams also tries to stay intact after treating a back injury all summer.
Minnesota in Chicago (Monday): Bears fans are in advance on how the quarter-Arrière Caleb Williams will play in his second season, but his first under the new coach Ben Johnson. The same could be said about how fans of the Vikings feel when JJ McCarthy, their own quarter of the 2024 draft class, takes over.
