NFL MVP Race: Allen takes the lead, Mahomes slips to second, Rodgers rises

Josh Allen ended Week 3 with the top QB performance of any of the MVP favorites in Buffalo’s 47-10 blowout of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Bills are now 3-0 and looking like one of the top teams in the AFC, while Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs survived another late scare to stay undefeated heading into Week 4. Aaron Rodgers looked like the Aaron Rodgers of old in the Jets win over New England and Lamar Jackson led the Ravens to their first victory of the season in Dallas. The only one on the top five leaderboard to lose was C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans who were dominated by the Minnesota Vikings.

Here are the most recent MVP odds from our friends at MGM casinos following Week 3.

Josh Allen, QB Buffalo Bills (+200)

You throw 4 TDs in the first half of a game, and you are bound to make a splash in the MVP race. Luckily for Josh Allen, he was already hovering around Patrick Mahomes in the top spot after two weeks of the season, and now he has leapfrogged the KC QB following the Bills 47-10 blowout of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Is the best Josh Allen we have ever seen? It’s still very early in the season to go out on that limb and claim he’s in the prime of his impressive career, but the doubts of him being able to develop a relationship with his new crop of receivers seems to be yesterday’s problem. He let James Cook dominate in the Week 2 primetime game against the Dolphins, but he took the wheel against the Jags and passed for 263 yards and 4 TDs on a perfect night in Orchard Park.

Pass stats: 75% CMP, 634 YDS, 7 TDS, 0 INT, 133.7 RTG

Run stats: 17 CAR, 85 YDS, 2 TDS

Patrick Mahomes QB Kansas City Chiefs (+325)

Mahomes and the Chiefs remain undefeated after three weeks of the season, and that is saying something in this year’s NFL. Good teams have already suffered their first or second losses, but the Chiefs have started their back-to-back title defense in perfect fashion, although it hasn’t been the most comfortable ride to begin the season. All three of their games have come down to the last few seconds, and the Chiefs could just as easily be 0-3, but much of their 3-0 start comes down to Mahomes Magic. He hasn’t been putting up eye popping numbers like we are used to seeing, even though he has a much better offense than he did last year. He had 151 yards against the Bengals in the one point win, and had just 217 yards against the Falcons, but he was able to make plays at the end of the game to set his team up to win, and that’s what MVPs do.

Pass stats: 69.6% CMP, 659 YDS, 5 TDS, 4 INTS, 89.9 RTG

Run stats: 12 CAR, 49 YDS, 0 TDS

C.J. Stroud, QB Houston Texans (+1300)

For the first time in his young career, C.J. Stroud looked rattled. The Texans took their perfect 2-0 record into Minnesota they got chewed up and spit out by the Vikings. Stroud looked lost as he tried to figure out how to break down Brian Flores’ defensive scheme that had his head spinning for all four quarters. Stroud threw two picks and was sacked four times as the Texans were held to just 7 points and dealt their first loss to a team that looked much better than them at this stage of the season. It’s not the end of the world for the second year quarterback that has done nothing but impress in his first season and some change in the league, but opposing defensive coordinators might have picked up on some things that Flores did on Sunday and try and implement it in their defensive scheme when it’s time to face the Texans.

Pass stats: 67.7 CMP, 709 YDS, 4 TDS, 2 INTS, 93.4 RTG

Run stats: 8 CAR, 24 YDS, 0 TDS

Aaron Rodgers, QB New York Jets (+1600)

Finally! After an agonizing season long wait, the New York Jets fans finally saw what this offense can look like with Aaron Rodgers operating under center. This was what the green side of New York had been itching to see since Rodgers was brought to Broadway. Not only were nearly every one of his 35 passes on the money on Thursday night against the Patriots, he showed that he can still move for a 40 year old QB fresh off a torn Achilles. That was probably the most relieving thing for Jets fans on Thursday night. For the first time this season we saw Rodgers get out of the pocket, make plays on the move and occasionally scramble for first downs. Jets fans will hold their breathe every time he has to use his legs, but the game against the Patriots showed us that he is back to being the mobile quarterback that we saw for nearly two decades in Green Bay.

Pass stats: 67.4% CMP, 624 YDS, 5 TDS, 1 INT, 103.1 RTG

Run stats: 6 CAR, 18 YDS, 0 TDS

Lamar Jackson, QB Baltimore Ravens (+2000)

The Baltimore Ravens got the monkey off their back after a disappointing start to the season in which they lost both of their opening games in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. Lamar Jackson was good in both of those games, but the Ravens failed to pull out the victory against the Chiefs and the Raiders and ultimately those losses get placed on the quarterback’s shoulders. This week we saw a much more balanced attack from the Ravens offense, which used Derrick Henry how they should have used him in the first two games. Henry went for 151 yards and two TDs which meant Jackson only had to throw the ball 15 times. He completed 12 of those passes for 182 yards and a TD, while running for another 87 yards and a TD as the Ravens got out to a 28-6 lead over the Cowboys early in the third quarter. Baltimore would struggle to close out the game against in the fourth quarter, but the most important thing coming out of Dallas was the Ravens first win, and the emergence of Derrick Henry.

Pass stats: 65.6% CMP, 702 YDS, 3 TDS, 1 INT, 95.7 RTG

Run stats: 35 CAR, 254 YDS, 1 TD