Well Actually, Saquon Barkley Not Winning The MVP Is The Best Thing That Could Have Happened For The Eagles On Sunday
Emilee Chinn. Getty Images.I just need someone to do some quick math for me real quick to figure out how this makes any sense.
Okay so let's say Saquon Barkley wins the Offensive Player of the Year award. That would mean that he had the best year out of every offensive player in the NFL, correct? So with that already previously established--when it comes time to name the MVP of the league, and all the other finalists are offensive players? Well at that point you would assume it's just simple "greater than, less than, or equal to" math.
And I get that "value" is subjective. The biggest argument against Saquon winning the MVP last night was that Howie Roseman is too good at his job. He built a monstrous roster to plug Saquon Barkley into. They have elite receivers. They have an elite offensive line. They have a great quarterback. He had the best year out of anybody on the offensive side of the ball, but there was greatness surrounding him. Meanwhile, Josh Allen is playing football with a giant pile of shit around him.
But there's also more basic math here that seemed to be completely ignored when naming Josh Allen the MVP of the the league. What tangible value did Josh Allen bring to the Bills from last year to this year? They went from losing to the Chiefs in the playoffs last year, to losing to the Chiefs in the playoffs this year. Seems like a lateral move, maybe with just a touch of upwards trajectory to me since this year they made it a round further. What tangible value did Saquon Barkley bring to the Eagles from last year to this year? Oh I don't know. The 2023 Eagles suffered one of the most historic collapses in NFL history last year, were the laughing stock of the league at the end of the year, and now they're playing for another Super Bowl thanks to a 2000+ yard season from Saquon.
Maybe some of you are more visual learners, so here's a quick demonstration.
Again, it all seems pretty simple to me. But what would I know. I'm just a simple little blogger. But what I do know is that more often than not, a player who wins MVP in the same season their team plays for the Super Bowl ends up losing the Super Bowl. At least in the 21st century. Kurt Warner, Rich Gannon, Shaun Alexander, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Cam Newton, Matt Ryan, Tom Brady again. And sure, Patrick Mahomes may have broken that curse in 2022. But that's when the Chiefs made their deal with the devil. The Eagles have made no such deal. This game on Sunday is a matchup between Good vs Evil. The Eagles don't have evil on their side, so they couldn't afford to have Saquon win MVP of the league this year.
Instead, he'll just get to focus on winning the one MVP award handed out every year that truly matters. Which is the Super Bowl MVP.
P.S. -- Winning Offensive Player of the Year isn't a bad accomplishment for the 13th best running back in the league.