Punch

Charlie Kolar is the 3rd string TE for the Baltimore Ravens. It's no surprise he'd back his teammate but he chose to do so in an inflammatory way on social media. Reap what you sow.

Fwiw, how much each of the following stats correlates with success per this guy:

If McDermott padded Josh's stats at the same rate Harbaugh pads Lamar's, Josh would have more than 4,000 pass yards and possibly 50 total TDs. The Bills have taken their foot off the gas pedal late in games often and other RBs have been involved in the red zone. Ray Davis and Ty Johnson have combined for 5 rushing TDs, only one Raven other than Derrick Henry or Lamar has a rushing TD (Justice Hill has 1).

Manning and McNair each recieved 16 votes, hence the tie. Ranked voting (1-5) was introduced last year so I think it'll be virtually impossible for a tie now.

It's funny watching Jets players celebrating down 12 at 4-11.

I sincerely hope you're right.

Another flag.

Dion Dawkins on the sideline, Von Miller in the blue medical tent.

Several writers covering the Bills including Joe Buscaglia have intimated this week that its very important for the Bills players that Josh wins MVP and they expect to see a push for him to go out with a bang. The weather complicates that effort and also McDermott needs to keep health at the forefront, but I expect to see them end on a high note. Go Bills.

Joe B. had this to say:

Suddenly, a ton of social media chatter that Joe Burrow is MVP, lol. "What have you done for me lately?"

The voters casting the ballots are all talking heads or writers.

I'm convinced many of the former players in television don't even watch the games. After the Detroit game, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Andrew Whitworth were on the Rich Eisen Show and Whit insisted Lamar should win MVP because Allen's best games were early in the season and he hadn't played well of late. Again, this was after the Detroit game! Josh was an historic one man wrecking crew over the prior two weeks, not to mention balling out against KC and San Fran! He was arguably in the midst of the greatest stretch of his career, and Whit was nonchalantly pooh-poohing him because Lamar Jackson blew out the Giants.

I do think it's close to deadlocked overall based on the overwhelming media swing toward Lamar after last night's game, but I didn't say its 50-50 in the minds of every single voter. If Josh has a statistically mediocre game on Sunday (regardless of the outcome) the odds will shift to Lamar. He needs to play well and end the season on a high note.

The odds are shifting based in part on opinions publicly offered by the media talking heads, some of whom are MVP voters. I think Allen should win and very well may, but the odds aren't a true predictor and the probability you're extrapolating isn't realistic or mathematically sound. Even if Allen has the better odds at season's end, the voters can still vote for Lamar, that isn't meant to be provocative, it's common sense. Vegas betting odds are designed to draw the most betting dollars, not accurately predict an outcome. I hope Allen wins, but its most certainly 50-50 right now in the minds of voters and all the headlines are hyperbolically calling Lamar's season an "historic run to MVP".

The MVP won't be decided based on whether or not voters ran out of time while Allen still had the better odds. The trend toward Lamar is distinct, it's closer to a coin flip than 2-1.

The national media discussion around MVP shows how much the talking heads are little more than lemmings. It's all what have you done for me lately and counting stats. In less than two weeks, the consensus went from drooling all over Allen to presuming Lamar should be the favorite. In many cases, analysts are talking trash about Allen as though it's an insult to Lamar that Josh has been hyped at all. The race has been between Josh and Lamar for much of the season, little has changed though I think team context and game circumstances favor Josh whereas counting stats favor Lamar, but not by a huge margin. My favorite part is so many boasting about Lamar's QB rating, which has been proven to not be an effective measure of QB play. It's to a point where if Josh wins, many in the media will claim it's akin to stolen valor.

I'm so sick of the Lamar discourse from Ravens fans and all the analysts trying to be clever. He isn't being sleighted if a case has been made for Josh Allen. Lamar is having a great season, but it's reasonable to suggest there's been some stat padding against inferior opponents and also late in games where they've trailed. The MVP case can easily be made for either.

I don't know if it's technically MVP hype, but I was looking through my saved social media and came across this tweet from September that says it all:

MVP

Just keep moving forward.

It's almost hard to believe no QB has done this before--- on top of it, of the various players who have accomplished it, none have done it only 2 plays!