Why Cowboys’ Micah Parsons believes Bengals QB Joe Burrow ‘should be’ NFL MVP despite 4-8 record

FRISCO, Texas — Thirteen weeks into the 2024 NFL season, a clear top two candidates have emerged in the race for the 2024 NFL MVP award: Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (-230 odds to win, favorite to win per Caesar’s Sportsbook) and Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (+325 odds to win, second-best odds to win per Caesar’s Sportsbook). 

However, Dallas Cowboys three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons disagrees, naming Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (+15000, tied for the 11th-best odds to win per Caesar’s Sportsbook) as his league MVP. Burrow does lead the NFL in both passing yards (3,337) and passing touchdowns (30), but Cincinnati’s 4-8 record weighs down his team’s playoff chances and his MVP odds. Yes, there’s a possibility Dallas’ top defensive player is grandstanding for his matchup against Burrow on “Monday Night Football” in Week 14, but it sounded sincere when he said it after practice on Thursday. 

“It’s gonna be extremely important. I got to do my job at extremely high level. I got to be the best player on the field,” Parsons said Thursday when asked how important it is for him to make Burrow uncomfortable on Monday night. “If Joe Burrow’s record is the opposite, he’ll be the leading runner for MVP, you know what I’m saying? I still think he should be the MVP. He’s leading [the league] in passing yards, passing touchdowns. The year he’s having like Joe Burrow at LSU. I think that’s what a healthy Joe Burrow looks like.”

Joe Burrow in 2024

Parsons’ point about Burrow earning the league’s MVP through 13 weeks might have legs to stand on when zeroing in on the Bengals quarterback’s individual production. Burrow’s 2024 season with 30 touchdowns and only five interceptions in Cincy’s first 12 games is only the seventh occurrence of a quarterback with at least 30 touchdowns and five or fewer touchdowns in their team’s first 12 games of a season in NFL history, per CBS Sports Research. Four of the previous six such occurrences — then-Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (2011, 2014 and 2020) and then-New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (2007) — resulted in that quarterback taking home NFL MVP honors at season’s end. Burrow is the only such occurrence of the seven in which the quarterback had fewer than nine team wins. 

30 pass TD, 5 or fewer INT in first 12 games of season
NFL history

* Won NFL MVP

It certainly isn’t Burrow’s fault that the Bengals have eight losses: their 27.9 points per game in losses this season is the highest in NFL history, minimum five losses. The culprit for their 4-8 start is obvious. Cincinnati has the second-worst scoring defense in the NFL, allowing 28.3 points per game. Burrow’s LSU and Bengals running mate in wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, on the other hand, is off to a similarly sizzling start to the season: Chase leads the league in both receiving yards (1,142) and receiving touchdowns (13). 

“So in terms of we got our hands tied on one of the best offenses in the NFL,” Parsons said. “And we’ve been playing like a really good defense, but we got to prove that on Monday night, and this is going to be I think, the greatest challenge of them all outside the Eagles. You give me someone who’s better than Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins right now. That [wide receiver] duo right there is none other than the best in the NFL … so I’m excited for the challenge. … I definitely feel like I got to be the best on the field Monday night.”

Parsons has been the NFL’s best pass rusher since returning from a high ankle sprain in Week 10, leading the league in sacks (5.5) and ranking second in quarterback pressures (22) by one behind Miami Dolphins edge rusher Chop Robinson’s 23 pressures in that span. The Week 14 edition of “Monday Night Football” will truly be an NFL showcase of best versus best when Parsons faces off against Burrow and Chase.