Players like Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen have all kept their teams in Super Bowl contention in recent years, something the Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t been able to do. Two of those quarterbacks, Jackson and Allen, were the frontrunners for the league’s MVP award this season. Last night, Allen ended up winning the award. Despite an incredible season from Jackson, he fell just short in what would have been his third time winning the award. His teammate, Rashod Bateman, is feeling some confusion regarding the voting.
“I hope I don’t get in trouble for this,” Bateman said via NFL on NBC on YouTube. “It’s definitely more behind the scenes of what’s going on. That’s just the world we live in, ’cause it’s night and day.”
Jackson has always had the support of his teammates, so it’s no surprise that Bateman is riding for him here. Bateman is likely appreciative of his quarterback, who helped him have a tremendous season in 2024. In 2024, Bateman had 45 receptions on 72 targets, along with 756 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. He set career-highs in each of those categories aside from receptions, in which he was just one short.
Bateman doesn’t clarify exactly what he means with his ‘more behind the scenes’ comment. However, he feels passionate about the fact that Jackson deserved the award more than Allen.
“He should have won the MVP, he was robbed,” Bateman said. “Lamar was All-Pro, and he doesn’t win MVP… He [Lamar Jackson] had him [Josh Allen] beat in every category, so it’s like, bro, what are we looking at?… Respect to Josh, we all know he’s an amazing player. But I mean, when you watch the game and look at the numbers, it’s like what are we valuing?”
Bateman is not wrong in his argument that Jackson was more impressive statistically. Jackson completed 66.7-percent of his passes for 4,172 yards, 41 touchdowns and just four interceptions. Each of those categories are better for Jackson than Allen. Allen completed 63.6-percent of his attempts for 3,731 yards, 28 touchdowns and six interceptions. Lamar Jackson also had a higher passer rating at 119.6 than Allen at 101.4.
Allen did beat Jackson in the postseason, but the award is supposed to only factor in regular season play. Both of these quarterbacks had tremendous years, and each were deserving of the award in their own right. Bateman thinks his teammate deserved it more, and the stats do reinforce his argument.
Bateman is far from the only person to be critical of Jackson falling short. Former Baltimore Ravens’ wide receiver Torrey Smith is feeling that frustration.
Based on past results, feeling shock regarding these results is normal. Courtesy of this stat provided by the AP’s Rob Maaddi, the last time a First-Team All-Pro didn’t win the award was all the way back in 1987.
Again, Jackson was voted First-Team All Pro over Allen. Maaddi does point out that All Pro voting relates more to statistics, while MVP voting is more opinionated. With that in mind, the voters must have believed that despite falling behind statistically, Allen was more important for his team.
