With just three weeks remaining in the regular season, we have a pretty good idea of the shape of the race for the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award. There’s a favorite, a No. 1 contender, an underdog story and a few players with outside chances of snagging the award.
What we don’t yet know is how the final few weeks will play out. But that’s likely what will determine which player actually gets the trophy. So, we wanted to use this space to lay out the scenario in which each of the current top five contenders can become the eventual MVP.
Status: The favoriteRemaining schedule: vs. Patriots, vs. Jets, at PatriotsHow he wins: Stay the course
Allen is the heavy favorite at the moment, and it’s hard to dethrone the favorite. That’s especially true given the way the Bills close the season. They have three games remaining, all against two of the NFL’s worst teams. If the Bills go 3-0 and Allen has characteristically excellent performances, someone is going to have to do something pretty spectacular to take the award away from him.
Status: The No. 1 contenderRemaining schedule: vs. Steelers, at Texans, vs. BrownsHow he wins: National TV greatness
Jackson is the player best positioned to snatch the award out of Allen’s grasp. It helps that his numbers are already better than Allen’s. He has more passing yards and touchdowns, fewer interceptions and more rushing yards, and he leads the NFL in EPA per play, according to Tru Media. But Allen is winning the perception game thanks to his alien-esque talent, Buffalo’s record and his recent national TV heroics.
Here, the schedule actually works in Jackson’s favor. He has two pretty tough opponents over the next two weeks — and both games are island games on days where the NFL doesn’t usually play. He gets the Steelers this coming Saturday, then the Texans in a Wednesday afternoon Christmas game. Those two teams also happen to have good…
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