‘Can’t Entertain Joe Burrow in the MVP Race’: Emmanuel Acho Disapproves of the Bengals QB as MVP Contender

Despite being statistically the best offensive player in the league this season, Emmanuel Acho believes Joe Burrow should not be anywhere near the NFL MVP conversation. In Acho’s eyes, a key metric for winning the coveted award is collective success — something the Bengals quarterback can’t claim.

Acho discussed this while pulling up the email he received as an MVP award voter. The voting ballot included various metrics, with collective success being the most pivotal.

The FS1 analyst did concede that Burrow’s statistics make him a strong candidate for the Offensive Player of the Year award, but the NFL MVP? Zero chance in the former NFL LB’s eyes, especially since the Bengals stand at 8-8, with playoff hopes hanging by a thread.

“Let’s not be silly. Joe Burrow should not be in the MVP race and I cannot come up here and try to entertain that… If your team is sitting here at eight and eight and potentially nine and eight at best, that is not the most valuable season. Now, as I look at other criteria, we could say that you were the offensive player that had the best all-around season,” Acho said during the latest episode of The Facility.

.@EmmanuelAcho can’t entertain Joe Burrow in the MVP race:

“We can’t disrespect the winning that has had to occur from previous candidates.” pic.twitter.com/vJohPOXHYi

— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) December 30, 2024

When you throw for 4,641 yards and score 42 TDs, not being in the NFL MVP race might leave a sour feeling in your mouth. But Emmanuel’s arguments hold a lot of merit.

Making the Bengals QB the MVP this year with little to no team success would be a slap in the face to both the winners of previous editions and to those who missed out for similar reasons, like Joe Montana in ’87, Philip Rivers in ’08, and Drew Brees in ’09.

That said, Burrow should absolutely be the hot favorite for the Offensive Player of the Year award. Surprisingly enough, Acho disagreed with this notion, despite initially saying the QB would make a great contender. While he didn’t justify his disagreement, he did note that with players like Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Saquon Barkley in the fray, it would be hard to see the Bengals star win.

This is honestly a controversial take by Acho. When one compares Lamar, Josh, and Barkley with Joe, it’s clearly evident that the Bengals playmaker has the weakest defense and O-line by his side. For instance, the pass block win rate of the Bills [69%], and the Ravens [70%] is much better than the Bengals’ [51%].

Let’s see how much help each QB gets from their defense and OL

Defensive points against:

Bills – 10th (331)
Ravens – 20th (351)

Bengals – t31st (393)

Pass block win rate:

Bills – 6th (69%)
Ravens – 2nd (70%)

Bengals – 30th (51%)

— Blake Jewell (@BlakeJewellNFL) December 29, 2024

Despite this glaring weakness, the fact that Burrow has put up the numbers he has speaks volumes about his 2024 season. No QB in the history of the league has gone 8 straight games with 250+ yards and 3 TDs. Burrow has had a special season so far and giving him the Offensive Player of the Award should be a fair call.