Buffalo’s Week 11 win has grabbed all the headlines for Josh Allen.
But are MVP bettors looking in the wrong direction?
Josh Allen, NFL MVP?
What Happened: The dust has settled on another week in the NFL. We have no undefeated teams remaining, and in a related note, a new front-runner for NFL MVP honors has emerged.
That race has tightened to three legitimate contenders, but the guy in third might just emerge at the top when all is said and done.
Why It Matters: After Josh Allen led his Buffalo Bills to a victory over the defending champion Chiefs, handing them their first loss of the season, Allen shot to the top of the board to win MVP this season. Allen is +150 at DraftKings and an even shorter +125 at FanDuel.
Lamar Jackson was cruising towards his third trophy, but an ugly performance against the Steelers will linger in voters’ minds as another big spot that #8 couldn’t quite deliver in. It also made rockier Baltimore’s road to an AFC North crown, and QBs who can’t even win their own division rarely win MVP honors.
The third man on the list is perhaps the most intriguing. Detroit’s Jared Goff is the only other player with sub-+1000 odds, clocking in at +800 on FanDuel and +600 on DraftKings. Playing for a well-rounded Lions team might end up hurting Goff’s case.
It also can’t be ignored that this team has scored 52 points twice in four weeks and hit the 40-mark twice earlier this season. Crucially, Goff will get plenty of time in the spotlight to finish out the season, with games on Thanksgiving against the Bears, Thursday Night Football versus the Packers the following week, a head-to-head battle against Allen and the Bills after that, before a Week 17 shot at redemption against the 49ers on Monday Night Football.
Goff isn’t the favorite, owing in part to the weapons he has around him and what the Lions’ offense asks of him. Detroit is also tied for the best record in the league after the Chiefs’ loss; if its quarterback can get the best of Jordan Love, Allen, and Brock Purdy down the homestretch, he might just force award voters to reconsider.
What Weâre Watching Today
Cavaliers at Celtics (7:00 PM ET) – If you had told us before the season one of these teams was going to enter this matchup 15-0, well, we wouldn’t have guessed it was the Cavs. Going off of ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, Boston is still the favorite to capture the title in 2025, but Cleveland clearly has some staying power.
Panthers at Jets (8:00 PM ET) –Â No NHL team has captured more points to this point in the season than Winnipeg, but as defending champs, the Panthers are still the team the rest of the league measures itself against. That played out on Saturday, when Florida romped the Jets 5-0. Things head north for this rematch, where the Jets hope to break a two-game slump and split this home-and-home.
The Look Ahead
LaMelo Ball POINTS + REBOUNDS + ASSISTS – Ball has been filling up the stat sheet for Charlotte in November. He’s averaging 30 points a contest, dishing out 6.6 assists, and is even grabbing 4.6 rebounds per. Ball’s line for tonight is 40.5, a figure he’s bested in five straight games. He gets a matchup against Brooklyn’s dreadful defense tonight, so we like him to continue his streak and hit the over here.
