Should Joe Burrow win the MVP over Aaron Rodgers?
The NFL's MVP race seems to already have a surefire winner — or does it?
The oddsmakers might have Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers tabbed as the favorite, but Colin Cowherd of "The Herd" made the case for another QB: Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow.
"Joe Burrow should be MVP," Cowherd said Thursday. "He should be."
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Colin Cowherd makes a case for Joe Burrow as the league's MVP.
From a head-to-head standpoint, Cowherd laid it out as such:
"Joe Burrow has less talent, a younger roster. It's a losing franchise and a significantly tougher division. And in the biggest game for both teams out of division — it was Kansas City — Burrow was amazing. Aaron wasn't available."
Against the Chiefs in Week 17, Burrow dazzled in a record-filled performance for the Bengals.
Burrow completed 30 of his 39 pass attempts for 446 yards, four touchdowns and a season-high 148.0 passer rating in the 34-31 win against Patrick Mahomes & Co.
Meanwhile, as Cowherd pointed out, Rodgers was unavailable for Green Bay's meeting with the Chiefs in Week 9 due to COVID-19 protocols.
Their respective divisions also played a factor in Cowherd's thinking. For Burrow, his Bengals (currently 10-6) won the AFC North, in which the other three teams –– the Cleveland Browns (7-9), Baltimore Ravens (8-8) and Pittsburgh Steelers (8-7-1) –– combined to go 23-24-1 ahead of Week 18.
Rodgers' Packers (currently 13-3) won the NFC North, which has a combined record of 15-32-1 from the Detroit Lions (2-13-1), Chicago Bears (6-10) and Minnesota Vikings (7-9)
"Aaron is in a crappy division," Cowherd said. "The Lions are two layups a year, the Bears were a mess this year, and the Vikings aren't very good, and they still beat Green Bay. Joe Burrow had to go up against the Steelers' defense twice, the wildly talented Cleveland defense twice … and Baltimore, when they were healthy, had a good defense."
From a statistical standpoint, here is how everything has shaped up through 17 weeks.
Rodgers has the edge in passing touchdowns (35) over Burrow (34) and a decided advantage with four interceptions thrown to Burrow's 14. The 38-year-old Rodgers also has a slightly higher passer rating (111.1) than the 25-year-old Burrow (108.3).
On the other side of the coin, Burrow has a higher completion percentage (70.4%) than Rodgers (68.6%) and averages more yards per game (288.2) than Rodgers (265.1). Interestingly, Burrow averages the most yards per completion in the league, with 12.6 yards (minimum 200 attempts) while leading the league in completion percentage.
Basically, Burrow isn't afraid to take deep shots down the field — and with Ja'Marr Chase on the other end of many of those attempts, why would he be? — and he is connecting on them. But those deep balls are also more susceptible to being intercepted, hence the 14 picks.
To Cowherd, though, that is part of the allure of Burrow.
"I'm not going to give you an MVP because, ‘You know, he doesn’t really throw many interceptions,'" Cowherd said. "How many touchdowns? Do you throw the ball down the field? Do you have to overcome anything? … It's what you overcome, not just numbers."
Speaking of numbers, Rodgers can likely count at least one vote to not be headed his way, after the quarterback got into a back-and-forth with an MVP voter who said he couldn't vote for the "biggest jerk in the league."
Whatever your opinion of Rodgers, there can't be much of an argument if he does indeed win the award.
However, even if there is a favorite, there is always room to make the case for other contenders. For Cowherd, Burrow clearly fits that bill.