National Football League

Josh Allen vs. Jalen Hurts: Who leads the race for NFL MVP?

Published Nov. 4, 2022 3:38 p.m. ET

It wasn't an aesthetically pleasing performance Thursday night, but the Philadelphia Eagles are 8-0.

The Eagles – who were heavily favored to stomp the Houston Texans in a blowout victory – found themselves locked in a 14-14 tie at halftime of the game.

The second half was a completely different story. Philadelphia's defense kicked things into another gear, holding Houston's once-boiling offense to just three points, while forcing two turnovers.

Jalen Hurts put the team's offense on his back, putting together a pair of decisive scoring drives to give the Eagles a two-score lead. His final stat line was brilliant: 21-of-27 (77%), 243 yards and two touchdowns. He also avoided the turnover bug, finishing with zero in the 29-17 win.

Hurts' heroics were essential in leading the Eagles to victory, and in Skip Bayless' mind, his play throughout this season should have him atop the MVP conversation.

"He might have improved in a couple of years time as much as I've seen anybody improve at this level of football," Bayless said about Hurts. "I just think he's been the MVP so far, and I can't even do it with the numbers, because Josh [Allen's] numbers are a little better. I'm looking at intangibles. … That Sunday night [against Dallas] was their game of the year so far. That was how they got to 8-0. Cooper Rush got them back to 20-17, and it's up to [the] defense to stop Jalen Hurts. And they couldn't on three straight third downs, and he made the plays.

"That killed my Cowboys' chances, because then they took it right on home, and then he hits DeVonta [Smith], and hits A.J. [Brown], and it's TD, and basically the game is over at that point. It's intangibles. He's changed the way the Eagles look on the football field. … More than that, off the field he was everything Carson [Wentz] just wasn't born to be. I'm talking about extreme leadership, where he walked in the door and started to take over the team. They just believe in him, they love him, they want to play for him. … You can just see, when they get in trouble, he just responds."

Shannon Sharpe didn't deny Hurts' intangibles, but argued that Allen should be the MVP frontrunner over Hurts.

"Right now, I think this is Josh Allen's award to lose," Sharpe said. "Doing what he did – the game-winning drives against the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs – I think that puts him ahead because we see how well Patrick Mahomes is playing, we see how well Lamar Jackson is playing, and he went to those guy's homes and beat both of those guys. I got Allen one, I got Mahomes two, and I got Hurts three.

"I understand that people are going to say ‘Well, Jalen Hurts is undefeated.’ At the end of the day, this is still a stat award. It's about numbers, and when you look at the numbers, Allen and Mahomes have played one less game, but they still have more passing touchdowns, more passing yards. Hurts and Allen are the same in completion percentage. Mahomes leads in touchdown passes with 20, Allen is right behind him with 19. Average yards per game passing: Allen has 314, Mahomes is 308, and Jalen Hurts is 11th with 255. The Eagles are 28th in passing percentage … they only pass the ball 49% of the time … and the league average is 58% of the time."

Does Jalen Hurts deserve MVP honors after leading Eagles to 8-0 start?

Shannon Sharpe shares who his NFL MVP is.

Hurts has completed 68.2% (163-of-239) of his passes on the season, totaling 2,042 yards, 12 touchdowns and two interceptions. His 107.8 QBR is third in the league, and he's tallied 326 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. He's also second in passing yards per attempt with 8.5, and third in interception rate (0.9%).

On passes that have sailed at least 25 yards through the air, Hurts has completed 61.5% for 329 yards, notching four TDs and no interceptions for a 145.0 rating. The only player better than him in those categories: Josh Allen.

Allen has 2,198 yards through the air on a 65.5% completion rate (173-of-264). He's thrown 19 touchdowns to six interceptions, and has rushed for two more on the ground, placing him at the top of the league's TD leaderboard with 21 in all.

Allen is also 30 yards above his closest competitor in total yards per game (357.7), Entering Week 8, Allen was also tops in the NFL in passing TD (five) and passer rating (117.9) in the two-minute drill, and had accumulated more total yards (2,237) than 26 teams, and touchdowns (19) than 29 teams.

While Hurts and the Eagles took care of the Texans Thursday night, Allen and the Bills will travel to New York to battle the Jets at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on CBS.