Jets could have say in MVP race if they can slow down Josh Allen this Sunday
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) pressured by New York Jets defensive end Will McDonald IV (99)during the New York Jets versus the Buffalo Bills football game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, Monday, October 14, 2024 Credit: Ed Murray
FLORHAM PARK, N.J.
There aren’t many opportunities left for the Jets to make a lasting impact on this season. They probably won’t get to be the traditional spoilers in either of their last two games.
The Bills, this week’s opponent, already have clinched a home playoff game and been eliminated from contention for the top AFC seed and the accompanying bye. Next week’s opponent, the Dolphins, likely already will be eliminated from postseason consideration by the time they play on Jan. 5 — or will need such a convoluted parlay of results in Week 18 that the outcome of their own game will be almost inconsequential.
Nor are the Jets jostling for a prized draft position. They’ll likely be selecting somewhere between fifth and 11th overall when the regular season thuds to an end.
They certainly don’t have anyone who will be considered for any of the Player of the Year or Rookie of the Year awards that will be handed out during the next month. No one on staff will be interviewed for high-profile job openings. No players are within striking distance of any single-season statistical records in a chase worth monitoring.
It’s mostly one big fade-to-black for this team as far as national consciousness and consequence goes. But there is one story arc in which these Jets control how the narrative of this nearly-over 2024 season ultimately is conveyed.
They get to have a say in who is named Most Valuable Player.
It certainly won’t be any of them. But in the race between Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson that is coming down to their last snaps, with voters looking for any deciding factors they can find to select or reject one of those two quarterbacks, this game against Buffalo could hold significant sway.
If the Jets somehow can keep Allen from posting another stellar performance, it could tilt the thinking toward reigning MVP Jackson, who is on a hot streak and would join the exclusive three-timers club.
If Allen adds to his season-long highlight reel of remarkable plays and pads his resume against the Jets, perhaps he will regain the spot he seemed to hold securely just a few weeks ago as the favorite to win the award for the first time in his career.
The winding paths to the playoffs, to the Super Bowl and to an eventual championship were supposed to include the Jets but instead took wide detours around them a long time ago. They barely figure in any of it.
The path to the MVP, amazingly enough, still goes straight through them.
Linebacker Jamien Sherwood said the Jets are more focused on trying to spoil the Bills’ seeding {they will be either second or third) and ruin their potential for hosting a divisional-round game in January.
“That would be something nice to take away from them,” he said.
The MVP drama?
“I’m from Florida, so I’ll take the guy from Florida,” Sherwood said of backing Jackson for the honor.
Beyond that, he doesn’t think the Jets can change the outcome.
“That’s those two guys’ accolades on their own,” he said.
But the four-time MVP in the Jets’ locker room and the only back-to-back winner of the award since 2009 knows what kind of impact one game — and sometimes one moment — can have on determining the honor.
“Right, wrong or indifferent, there is always one game that kind of stands out in voters’ minds,” Aaron Rodgers said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Dec. 17. “A lot of times it’s one specific play that you are like, ‘OK, this is why this guy is getting MVP.’ ”
That certainly could happen Sunday in Buffalo. While Allen is listed on the Bills’ injury report this week with issues relating to his right shoulder and elbow, he’s been a full participant in practice.
Rodgers said “a lot of people thought it was maybe the Josh Allen in the snow lateral from [Amari] Cooper and he did the Superman [dive] to score a touchdown” play against the 49ers on Dec. 1 that had sealed the award for him. Not quite.
Since then, Jackson and the Ravens have won three straight games (including the last two in stand-alone national broadcasts, an element that should not be discounted). During that stretch, Jackson has thrown for 10 touchdowns with only one interception and run for 174 yards and a touchdown while becoming the all-time leading rusher among NFL quarterbacks. He also has improved his league-leading passer rating to 121.6 — nearly 10 points better than second-place Jared Goff and 20.4 points better than Allen.
So now we have two weekends of action left before the ballots are submitted in one of the tightest races in recent memory. If the Bills lock up the No. 2 playoff seed with a win on Sunday, this may be Allen’s last chance to make his case before sitting out Week 18. Jackson likely would be afforded the same luxury in the regular-season finale if all the spots are set.
At this point Jackson feels like the leader in the clubhouse, but Allen surely has the ability to make a late push . . . at the expense of the Jets.
“Josh can threaten you with his legs, he can threaten you with his arms, and when you get to the tackling point, he’s going to challenge you with his toughness,” Jets linebackers coach Mike Rutenberg said. “That’s why he’s having an MVP-caliber season.”
But Allen hasn’t won it. Not yet. Not until the Jets have a voice in the matter.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.