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The NFL Playoffs Have Delivered Quarterback Showdown for the Ages
The Wall Street Journal|January 14, 2025
The Bills’ Josh Allen and the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson are set to meet in the AFC divisional round
- ANDREW BEATON
The NFL Playoffs Have Delivered Quarterback Showdown for the Ages

Both Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson spent the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs getting serenaded by the same chant: "M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!" After a season of outrunning and outfoxing defenders across the league, the two quarterbacks have each made a strong case for the award. Jackson, the Baltimore Ravens superstar, became the first player ever with at least 40 touchdown passes and fewer than five interceptions while also leading all quarterbacks in rushing yards.

Allen led a Buffalo Bills outfit that managed to score even more points than the Ravens, contributing 41 touchdowns of his own along the way.

Nobody had an answer for how to stop these two transcendent players, who routinely made highlight-reel plays with their arms, with their legs and frequently with both at the same time. By the time the regular season was over, the only question about the race for Most Valuable Player was which one of these two would win the award.

Now, Allen and Jackson are set to meet in a rare playoff showdown between two quarterbacks in the midst of two such phenomenal seasons.

Neither the Bills nor the Ravens had much trouble advancing to the Divisional Round of this postseason. Buffalo steamrolled the Denver Broncos 31-7 on Sunday, one day after Baltimore dispatched the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-14, setting up a meeting next weekend between the No. 2 and No. 3-seeded teams in the AFC-and the most hotly anticipated quarterback duel of the season so far.

While it's still unclear whether Allen or Jackson will be anointed the league's top player, what's all but certain is that they'll occupy the top two spots on the final ballot.

This story is from the January 14, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

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This story is from the January 14, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

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