MVP Race after Week 13: Allen does it all, Saquon closes in, Mahomes falling back

What’s the best thing about the long Thanksgiving weekend? Is it the food? Is it the family time? Is it the time off? Or is it the football? The Turkey was great, but that’s gone. The family time was peaceful for a while, but that ended quick. The time off was heaven sent, but that was too short. But the football. The football gave us a weekend full of great games and some MVP type performances as a couple of the odds on favorites separated themselves from the pack with some MVP worthy Turkey Day performances.

Here is how the MVP race is panning out after the holiday weekend according to our buddies at MGM Grand.

Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills (-250)

A snowy Sunday night in Orchard Park with the world watching, and Josh Allen decided to do something that’s never been done by a quarterback before. He threw, ran and caught a TD pass in the Bills thumping of the San Francisco 49ers in their primetime game under blizzard conditions. The Lake Effect Lateral as it’s been dubbed, was the second MVP type play that Allen has made this season. The first was his TD run on 4th down to hand the Chiefs their first loss of the season. Allen went 13/17 for 148 yards and two TDs (one of those to himself), and more importantly the Bills locked up the AFC East for a fifth year running. You look at Allen’s numbers and they aren’t going to blow you away. He’s middle of the pack in yards, out of the top five in TDs, and 10th in RTG, but he is making all the right plays at all the right times and his Bills are in the race for the one seed in the AFC. All in a year that the Bills offloaded all their stars over the summer.

Pass stats: 64.6% CMP, 2,691 YDS, 20 TD, 5 INT, 100.3 RTG

Run stats: 70 CAR, 334 YDS, 6 TDS

Saquon Barkley, RB, Philadelphia Eagles (+300)

The MVP isn’t supposed to go to a running back in today’s NFL, but don’t tell Saquon that. He is breaking all barriers in his first year as the Eagles running back. After years of being stuck in the mud as the Giants one and only star, he has been liberated and he is showing us what we have been missing out on since he was drafted back in 2018. The Eagles match up with the Ravens was supposed to be a battle of the two top running backs in the game, but neither running back really did much to impact their team through the first 45 minutes of the game. That all changed in the final quarter. Barkley only got better as the Eagles wore the Ravens defense down. The former Nittany Lion went for 60 yards in the 4th quarter and scored the game clinching touchdown on a 25 yard scamper to the end zone to bury Baltimore and seal Philly’s eighth win in a row. He has the most rushing yards in the league, the second most rushing TDs and is averaging 124.9 yards a game. If he continues that pace for the remaining five games, he would end the season with 2,123 yards and set an the all-time single season rushing record set by Erick Dickerson (2,105) back in 1984.

Rushing stats: 246 CAR, 1,499 YDS, 11 TD, 124.9 YPG

Receiving stats: 20 REC, 267 YDS, 2 TD

Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens (+1100)

I think I’ve been caught saying that the Ravens losses don’t usually boil down to Lamar Jackson’s play. That may be the case in a few of the losses, and there is certainly reason to point the finger at Justin Tucker who missed two field goals and a PAT to leave 7 points off the scoreboard in a game that was decided by 5 points. Jackson might have been responsible for one of those misses from Tucker. He got sacked on 3rd down and turned a 33 yard field goal into a 47 yard field goal, which doesn’t do your struggling kicker many favors. Jackson’s numbers were average, going 23/36 for 237 yards and throwing two TDs, and had another 89 yards rushing. There is still a possibility that he becomes the first QB with 4,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing, and right now he is the league leader in RTG with the best TD to INT ratio, and second in passing yards behind only Joe Burrow, but that’s not going to mean much if the Ravens keep losing games.

Pass stats: 67.0% CMP, 3,290 YDS, 29 TD, 3 INT, 116.3 RTG

Run stats: 111 CMP, 678 YDS, 3 TD

Jared Goff, QB, Detroit Lions (+1100)

The Lions keep rolling and Jared Goff continues to hang around the top of the MVP leaderboard. That’s ten straight wins that Goff has led the Lions to, and it looked like it was going to be another stroll in the park in the early game on Thanksgiving, but Jahmyr Gibbs’ fumble right before half complicated things heading into the final two quarters. Goff brought some calm to the team, building a long TD drive that he capped off with a TD pass to Sam LaPorta to put the Lions up two scores. The Bears would try and claw back into the game, and almost did after Jake Bates missed his first field goal of the season, but some terrible clock management by the Bears cost them the chance at a game tying field goal. Goff wasn’t incredible on Thursday, and he and his offense quieted down for the rest of the game after their opening possession TD in the third quarter, but he did just enough to get by a tough division rival on a short week. He went 21/34 for 221 and 2 TDs, and continues to be the leader in completion percentage, second in RTG, top five in TD passes and top 10 in passing yards. The numbers aren’t astounding, but the Lions are and that’s what matters most in Detroit these days.

Pass stats: 71.8% CMP, 2,982 YDS, 22 TD, 9 INT, 109 RTG

Run stats: 25 CAR, 40 YDS, 0 TD

Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs (+2000)

Something is up in Kansas City. Earlier in the season, the Chiefs were winning games even though Patrick Mahomes and the offense weren’t exactly in sync. They squeaking past teams as the offense continued to take hit after hit on the injury front. The Chiefs are still banged up although they are getting healthier. That has translated to better numbers from Mahomes, but the games aren’t getting any easier. They are still sneaking by teams, which is a bit troubling especially when you consider their last two opponents after a combined total of five wins. In the first six games of the season Mahomes has just two games over 250 yards, 6 TDs and 8 INTs. Since then he has five games of over 250 yards (only game under 250 was the loss vs. Buffalo), 13 TDs and just 3 INTs, but the Chiefs still aren’t blowing teams out. They are 5-1 in those six games and their five wins have come by a combined 20 points, including their two point win over the Raiders on Black Friday. Mahomes went for 306 yards and 1 TD on 26/46 passing, but that wasn’t good enough to keep Vegas from almost stealing that game late in the 4th quarter.

Pass stats: 68.4% CMP, 2,979 YDS, 19 TD, 11 INT, 92.2 RTG

Run stats: 46 CAR, 231 YDS, 1 TD