The NFL MVP race still has two clear finalists. A third candidate is making a move.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has reclaimed the favorite status from Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. Last week, Maye had -135 betting odds, and Stafford was at +135. This week, with Stafford having another strong game against the Cardinals and the Patriots on a bye, Stafford has moved to -180. Maye has fallen to +200.
Coming in at third is Packers quarterback Jordan Love. At +1000, he’s down from +1900 from last week. And if the 9-3-1 Packers keep winning and eventually secure one of the top seeds in the NFC, Love could get plenty of votes in the balloting, which happens within days after the completion of the regular season.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen is also lurking, at +1500. And he’s arguably the top overall quarterback, if not player, currently in the league. It will be hard for him to win the MVP award, however, if the Bills don’t win the AFC East.
There’s a big drop after Allen to Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, at +7500. One week ago, Prescott had the third position, at +1500.
Bottom line? Don’t sleep on Love. The Packers continue to surge, with four straight wins since losing back-to-back home games. He has 22 touchdown passes and only four interceptions. And he’s getting it done without a high-end receiving corps.
Bills Clips
The Bills pulled within three points of the Bengals on a 40-yard touchdown run by quarterback Josh Allen midway through the fourth quarter on Sunday, but it was a play on the other side of the ball that blew the game open for the home team.
The Bengals had a first down in Bills territory a couple of minutes later and quarterback Joe Burrow’s attempt to add to the lead was thwarted by a blitzing Christian Benford. The Bills cornerback left his feet to snag Burrow’s pass and sprinted 63 yards for a touchdown that gave the Bills their first lead of the game.
Burrow would throw another interception on the next drive and the Bills would follow that up with another touchdown. After the 39-34 win, head coach Sean McDermott pointed to the Benford play as the major momentum changer.
“Just [a] big-time moment in the game,” head coach Sean McDermott said, via Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN.com. “That’s this time of year. You’re looking for moments, guys doing their job, and when you do your job, good things happen. That’s what we saw happen. It was just a phenomenal play, phenomenal call. Just great to see.”
It was the second straight week with a touchdown for Benford and he also had a sack while allowing zero completions to Ja’Marr Chase while covering the Bengals star. Other top wideouts have suffered the same fate when matched up with Benford this season and the Bills will continue to lean on him down the stretch.
Two weeks ago, Bengals receiver Tee Higgins suffered a concussion when his helmet struck the artificial turf in Cincinnati. On Sunday, Higgins’ helmet hit the artificial turf multiple times in Buffalo.
“I’m a soldier,” Higgins told reporters after the game, via Gabi Sorrentino of Fox19. “Soldiers take hits. You know, it happens. It’s football. It’s the name of the game. But you’ve got to get up. Next play mentality.”
Higgins confirmed that he was checked multiple times for another concussion. He said he passed all tests.
Did Higgins consider pulling himself from the game given the concussion he suffered in Week 12?
“I didn’t think about that at all,” Higgins said. “I’m a team-first guy. You know what I mean? My team needed me, you know, I feel like they did. So I went out there and played. Tried to dog it out with my team.”
Higgins brushed off the multiple times his helmet struck the turf by saying, “It’s ball, man. It’s ball.”
Obviously, Higgins wouldn’t have been allowed to keep playing if he hadn’t cleared the concussion evaluations. And it’s entirely the player’s call as to whether he feels comfortable with staying in the game.
For much of Sunday’s game, the Bengals had taken it to the Bills on a snowy day in Western New York.
But then a nightmare sequence for Joe Burrow put Buffalo in control and ultimately allowed the Bills to come away with a 39-34 victory.
After Josh Allen rushed for a 40-yard touchdown to narrow Cincinnati’s lead to three points, the Bengals quickly made it to Buffalo territory and looked like they had a shot at expanding their advantage. But that’s when Christian Benford intercepted a Burrow pass to Ja’Marr Chase at the line of scrimmage, returning it 63 yards to the end zone for a go-ahead, pick-six.
Things went from bad to worse on Cincinnati’s ensuing drive, with Burrow’s first pass getting tipped at the line and picked off by defensive end A.J. Epenesa for another big turnover.
This ended up being a back-breaker, as Allen connected with tight end Jackson Hawes for a 3-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal to put Buffalo’s lead at 39-28.
While the Bengals scored quickly on a 25-yard touchdown from Burrow to Tee Higgins, the club couldn’t hit a two-point conversion to keep Buffalo’s lead at five points.
And Cincinnati’s beleaguered defense was poor again on third-and-15 just after the two-minute warning, allowing Allen to scramble for a 17-yard gain to seal his team’s victory.
Allen ended the contest 22-of-28 for 251 yards with three touchdowns and no picks. He also had 78 yards on nine carries with a TD.
Buffalo’s tight ends were particularly impactful against the Cincinnati defense, with Dawson Knox catching six passes for 93 yards. Dalton Kincaid had four receptions for 41 yards with a TD.
The Bengals mostly went right through Buffalo’s defense, netting 25 first downs, 338 total yards, and finishing 10-of-12 on third down. But Burrow’s two critical picks in the fourth quarter made the difference.
Burrow ended the contest 25-of-36 for 284 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Tee Higgins had six catches for 92 yards with a pair of TDs. Mike Gesicki had six catches for 86 yards with a touchdown while Ja’Marr Chase finished with five catches for 44 yards.
With the victory, the Bills are now 9-4 and are getting closer to securing their spot in the postseason. Buffalo will be on the road to face the Patriots in Week 15.
Cincinnati has now fallen to 4-9. The team will be at home to face Baltimore next Sunday.
For the second week in a row, Christian Benford has scored a defensive touchdown.
Benford intercepted Joe Burrow on what was supposed to be a quick pass to Ja’Marr Chase at the line of scrimmage, returning it 63 yards for a go-ahead score.
The Bengals looked like they were on their way to expanding their lead as the club had netted first downs on two of the drive’s first three plays to get down to Buffalo’s 33-yard line.
But on first-and-10 from that spot, Burrow looked to his right to fire quickly but Benford took the short pass out of the air. Burrow tried to bring Benford down, but Benford broke the tackle and had no one in front of him to go all the way to the end zone.
Bills running back James Cook was about to give his team a third-quarter lead with a run inside the 5.
But he fumbled before he could cross the goal line. And with the extra possession, Cincinnati got back in the end zone with a Joe Burrow 12-yard pass to Mike Gesicki, making the Bengals’ lead 28-18.
Josh Allen had something to say about that, however, taking in a rushing touchdown on Buffalo’s ensuing possession to make the score 28-25.
Cook now has four fumbles in his last two games with two lost. He nearly gave the Bengals a touchback earlier in that same drive with a fumble near the goal line. But the ball did not go out of bounds in the end zone. A holding call negated Cook’s play to get the ball to the 1-yard line.
Burrow and the Bengals have continued to be excellent on third down, with the quarterback converting third-and-4 with a a 6-yard pass to Ja’Marr Chase before converting third-and-6 with an 18-yard pass over the middle to Tee Higgins.
Higgins had to exit the field after that play after hitting the back of his head on the turf again.
But it didn’t take long for the Bills to get back on the board in response. Josh Allen took a 40-yard scramble to the end zone on the fourth play of the drive, making the score 28-25. Via Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN, it was the longest regular-season rushing touchdown of Allen’s career.
The Bills have started the second half by getting points on the board.
Josh Allen connected over the middle with tight end Dalton Kincaid for a 5-yard touchdown, cutting the Bengals’ lead to 21-18 with 9:20 left in the third quarter.
While Cincinnati started the possession by sacking Allen, the defensive unit committed pass interference on the next play to get Buffalo going.
Allen converted third-and-5 with a 16-yard scramble, putting the Bills in Bengals territory. Then James Cook took a swing pass 27 yards down to Cincinnati’s 9-yard line.
A play later, Allen fired a seed over the middle to Kincaid to narrow Cincinnati’s advantage to three points.
But the Bills need their defense to play much better in the second half than they did in the first if Buffalo is going to come away with a win on Sunday.
It’s a showy day in Western New York and the Bengals had little problem with that offensively in the first 30 minutes of Sunday’s matchup with Buffalo, carrying a 21-11 lead at halftime.
Cincinnati scored touchdowns on each of the club’s first three possessions, with Joe Burrow throwing two of them. Via Jay Morrison of SI.com, it was the last time the Bengals scored three consecutive touchdowns to open a game was back in Week 7 of the 2022 season against the Falcons.
The Bengals also started the game 7-of-7 on third down. The only time the club didn’t convert was late in the second quarter on a third-and-17, when Burrow couldn’t connect with Tee Higgins on an off-schedule play, to finish the first half 7-of-8 in the category.
Burrow finished the first half 13-of-18 for 130 yards with two touchdowns. Returning from missing last week’s game with a concussion, Higgins had four receptions for 49 yards with a TD.
Burrow’s best throw of the first half was arguably his 10-yard touchdown to Chase Brown with 3:18 left in the first half, as he rolled to his right and perfectly place the ball for Brown to dive and catch it in the end zone.
On the other side, Josh Allen is 9-of-13 for 96 yards with a touchdown. He made some magic on Buffalo’s second possession, converting a pair of fourth downs — once to move the chains, the next to connect with Khalil Shakir for an 11-yard touchdown.
But the next time the Bills had the ball, Cincinnati broke up an Allen pass at the line of scrimmage on fourth-and-3 from the Cincinnati 43 for a turnover on downs.
Buffalo will receive the second-half kickoff.
Josh Allen made some magic happen on the Bills second possession to give his club its first touchdown of the game.
Needing to move the chains on fourth-and-4, Allen moved to his right to buy time and eventually fired an 11-yard pass to Khalil Shakir in the end zone for a touchdown.
With a roughing the passer penalty enforced for the point-after try, the Bills went for two from the 1-yard line. Allen found Dawson Knox open in the back of the end zone for a successful try, making the score 14-11, Bengals.
That was Allen’s second brilliant fourth-down play of the drive. On fourth-and-4 from the Cincinnati 45, Allen somehow bought enough time to find Gabe Davis for a 17-yard gain on the left side.
Allen has started the game 8-of-11 for 91 yards with a touchdown.
Two drives, two touchdowns for the Bengals.
Cincinnati leads Buffalo 14-3 after Joe Burrow connected with Tee Higgins for a 21-yard touchdown to cap the club’s second possession.
The Bengals have been tremendous on third down to start the contest, converting on all five chances. On this drive, Burrow hit tight end Mike Gesicki with a 14-yard pass on third-and-11 to move the chains. Gesicki went up and high-pointed the ball over a defender, keeping hold of it as he went to the ground to secure the possession.
Two plays later, Burrow dropped back and fired deep to the end zone for Higgins, who clearly got two feet in bounds for the score.
On the other side, the Bills got deep into Cincinnati territory on their first drive. Ty Johnson had an opportunity to score on a long run, but got tripped up in the snow as he was trying to break away. Then Josh Allen was unable to convert third-and-2 from Cincinnati’s 5-yard line, getting stuffed for a 3-yard loss. Buffalo settled for a field goal to get the team’s first points on the board.
