Fantasy Football Heavyweight QBs Josh Allen & Lamar Jackson Clash on Sunday Night Football

Like a prize title fight, Week 1 and the 20th year of NBC's Sunday Night Football features a pair of heavyweight quarterbacks in the Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen and the Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson, the MVPs of the NFL over the last two seasons.

Dec 8, 2019; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) greets Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) following the game at New Era Field. | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

In a matchup of NFL Most Valuable Players from the last two years, Sunday Night Football features the heavyweight battle of quarterbacks, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. The Week 1 game could very well be a preview of this season’s AFC Championship game as Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens will head to Western New York to face Allen and the Buffalo Bills. This will be just the fifth time in league history that the last two MVPs meet during Week 1.

Lamar Jackson vs Josh Allen in week 1 games pic.twitter.com/K5rMD798vC

— JacksonMuse (@Jackson_muse) September 6, 2025

To no surprise, Jackson and Allen are FantasyPros.com’s top-two ranked fantasy quarterbacks for Week 1, respectively. With both quarterbacks having the ability to gain a significant amount of yardage with their legs, expect plenty of production for fantasy managers who drafted them to their rosters with early-round picks.

The home team and Allen could have an edge from a fantasy perspective, as the Ravens defense gave up the second-most passing yards to opposing quarterbacks last season, with 4,466, and the seventh-most fantasy points per game with 17.8. Baltimore’s defense fared better against quarterback rushing yardage in 2024, giving up the sixth-least ground yards with 233 against the position and just a trio of touchdowns.

As for the Buffalo defense, they gave up the tenth-most passing yards last season at 4,100, but limited quarterbacks to just 15.7 fantasy points per contest. Buffalo gave up the eighth-least quarterback rushing yards with 263, and a pair of ground scores. However, with these two, you can pretty much throw out any defensive metrics. Each could provide fireworks with their arms and legs Sunday night, which should see plenty of sparks at Orchard Park under the lights.

Last season, Jackson was tied for second in the NFL in passing touchdowns with 41 and ranked sixth in yards with 4,172. Allen was seventh in the passing touchdown department with 28, and ranked 14th in yards with 3,731. Jackson and Allen were tied for first in the league with each having a QBR of 74.8.

Also leading the league in quarterback rushing yards, Jackson finished 2024 with 915, and led the NFL overall in yards per rush with 6.6 an attempt. Allen was fifth in quarterback rushing yards with 531, but was second in the league in rushing touchdowns at the position with 12, behind the Philadelphia Eagles' Jalen Hurts and his 14. Jackson took in only four rushing touchdowns, but is always a threat to reach the endzone with his 33 career ground scores.

There truly couldn’t be a better way to finish the first full day of NFL action in 2025, as well as kick off the celebration of the 20th year of NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Fantasy and football enthusiasts should be treated to an offensive showcase with two of the league’s premier teams, led by arguably the two best signal callers in the game today.