Bills Central

Did rogue AP voter effectively hand MVP to Bills' Josh Allen?

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen won the NFL MVP award on Thursday, the result of a very close race that included a controversial fourth place vote for Lamar Jackson.

Brian Letscher

Dec 8, 2019; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17)
Dec 8, 2019; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) / Rich Barnes-Imagn Images
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In a shocking upset, Allen took home the MVP award Thursday at the NFL Honors awards show ahead of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.

In what was one of the closest votes ever for the MVP award, fans and media alike were more than surprised by the winner. Particularly since the same Associated Press voters who voted 30-18 to make Lamar Jackson 2024 1st Team All-Pro then turned around and awarded the MVP trophy to Allen. But it's been one vote in particular, by former NFL back-up quarterback Jim Miller, that has many confused and questioning just who should get a vote.

Overall, Allen received 27 first-place votes, 22 second-place votes and one third-place vote, finishing with 383 voting points. Jackson, a two-time MVP, had 23 first-place votes, 26 second-place votes and, curiously, the one fourth-place vote from Miller for a total of 362 points.

What so many would like to know is did Miller's inexplicable fourth-place-for-Lamar vote hand the MVP to Allen? The definitive answer is...no. Without getting into the mathematical weeds, essentially what happened is that an unheard number of AP voters -- at least seven! -- flipped their first-place All-Pro votes for Jackson over to Allen for the MVP.

So, yes, Miller putting Lamar at fourth for MVP (yet first for Offensive Player of the Year??) is strange. But so is a bunch of voters completely flipping their votes from the All-Pro balloting to the MVP race.

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Brian Letscher
BRIAN LETSCHER

A Michigan native, Brian graduated from the University of Michigan in another century, where he earned a degree in economics and a Rose Bowl Championship ring while playing football for the Wolverines under Head Coach Gary Moeller. Brian went on to coach Division 1A football for several years before becoming a full-time writer and actor while maintaining an unhealthy interest in sports. He is currently developing a scripted television series, THOSE WHO STAY, based on a series of historical fiction articles he wrote about Bo Schembechler's Michigan football program as they struggle to unite and win the championship - which requires beating #1 Ohio State - during the tumultuous civil rights and anti-war movements of 1969.

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