The Rushing Record, Week 18 MVP Chase, and Pro Bowl
Will Saquon hold on to his lead?
Saquon Barkley is 100 yards away from breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record, set in a 16-game season 40 years ago. Because the Eagles have to play in the first week of the playoffs, however, Barkley is going to sit out the last game of the season.
It's just as well. Unless a running back shatters records, with yards-per-game similar to O.J. Simpson's 2003 yards in a 14-game regular season, records don't matter much. In Barkley's case, the irony is that he dropped a pass near the end of a Week 3 game that led to an Eagles loss, preventing the Eagles from contending for the #1 seed in Week 18.
If the Eagles had something to play for, Barkley would be playing and might have gotten the record. The decision to throw the pass that Barkley dropped reflected poor clock management by head coach Nick Sirianni because a running play was a safer decision for running down the clock in that situation; while Barkley shouldn't have dropped the pass, the likelihood of dropping a pass is greater than Barkley fumbling on a running play. That's just the nature of the game.
Nevertheless, Barkley had a great year, and by sitting, his status as the MVP Chase leader is in jeopardy. The way the MVP Chase formula works, four players can pass him this week if their teams win and they have great games (or, in Lamar Jackson's case, a near-perfect game).
Eight players can finish in the top five in the MVP Chase, and the top five finishers will fill up my hypothetical MVP ballot. But I'm posting the Top 20 in case you're wondering where your favorite player is ranked.
PRO BOWL
The NFC and AFC Pro Bowl rosters were announced this week. The Pro Bowl isn't about rewarding the winningest players, only the best players, whereas the MVP Chase is about the best players on winning teams. Common sense says there would be a lot of overlap, and I wondered how much. Here's what I found:
Quarterbacks
The top three MVP Chase NFC quarterbacks in the MVP Chase (#2,6,10) are the NFC Pro Bowl qbs.
The top three MVP Chase AFC quarterbacks (#5,8,15) are the AFC qbs.
Running Backs
The top three NFC running backs (#1,3,7) are the Pro Bowl rbs.
Three of the top four AFC running backs (#4, #23 Joe Mixon, Texans, #30 Jonathan Taylor, Colts) are in the Pro Bowl. #11 James Cook is left out.
Wide Receivers
Justin Jefferson (#9) is the only WR in the Top 20, and he made the NFC roster. While there is greater variance than with quarterbacks and running backs on the overall MVP Chase list, three of the four Pro Bowl receivers in each conference play for teams in playoff contention.
(James Leroy Wilson writes The MVP Chase (subscribe). Thank you for your subscriptions and support! You may contact James for writing, editing, research, and other work: jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com.