Why isn't Jordan Love in the MVP race? The numbers show why he should

Jordan Love entered the season with few expectations. Green Bay Packers fans, coming off of two straight Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks, wanted to see promise in how he played.

Love has blown through those expectations. With Brock Purdy's sour performance against the Baltimore Ravens, which included four interceptions, Love's chances of winning the MVP went up.

Love is playing exceptionally well for someone who sat on the bench for three years. His current stats are as follows:

• 3,587 passing yards
• 27 passing touchdowns
• 11 interceptions
• 91.8 passer rating
• 3 rushing touchdowns

Love is dealing on the season, with 30 total touchdowns. He has already surpassed Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre for performance in his first season starting.

Jordan Love's numbers are up there with the MVP frontrunners

Let's compare Love to the current quarterback frontrunners for MVP:

• Brock Purdy: 4,050 yards, 29 TDs, 11 INTs, 112.2 rating, 2 rushing TDs
• Jalen Hurts: 3,636 yards, 20 TDs, 13 INTs, 89.6 rating, 14 rushing TDs
• Lamar Jackson: 3,357 yards, 19 TDs, 7 INTs, 97.2 rating, 5 rushing TDs
• Patrick Mahomes: 3,938 yards, 26 TDs, 14 INTs, 91.7 rating
• Josh Allen: 3,778 yards, 27 TDs, 15 INTs, 93.7 rating, 13 rushing TDs
• Tua Tagovailoa: 4,214 yards, 26 TDs, 10 INTs, 105.5 rating
• Dak Prescott: 3,892 yards, 30 TDs, 7 INTs, 104.2 rating, 2 rushing TDs

While Jalen Hurts led the Eagles to a huge winning streak at the beginning of the season and broke the rushing touchdown record, the losing streak the Eagles went on against some great NFC teams has made him look worse in the eye of the media. Plus, the rushing touchdowns coming from the tush push are not as impressive as the previous record held by Cam Newton.

The most impressive candidate right now is the Dallas Cowboys' Dak Prescott, who turned around his turnovers from 2022 to 2023. But the Cowboys have not beaten anyone impressive so far this season and struggle on the road. Josh Allen has also lost to some bad teams, and while his 13 rushing touchdowns are impressive, he has not been playing like himself overall.

Patrick Mahomes and Brock Purdy did not play well this week, leading them to move down in the odds. Jordan Love has performed well over the past six weeks, throwing 13 touchdowns with only one interception. Most often, MVP voters tend to vote for the best player on the best team (like Aaron Rodgers in 2020 and 2021), but with a season like this, anyone can currently win the MVP.

Purdy's blemish comes with the offensive scheme he is running. Most of his passing yards come from yards after catch (YAC); because of this, MVP voters are less likely to vote for a system QB relying on their receivers. Tua also suffers from this by having two of the fastest receivers in Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill.

Finally, following their win against the San Francisco 49ers, Lamar Jackson looks to be the frontrunner going forward, jumping Brock Purdy. Jackson's numbers aren't terribly impressive, but he is throwing to a very hurt team with lackluster wide receivers and is balling out as the #1 seed in the AFC.

While Jordan Love has the story behind him to be a potential MVP winner, I doubt the MVP voters will vote for him. The Green Bay Packers currently have a losing record at 7-8. Love had a losing stretch in the middle of the season with some bad interceptions, and overall, the Packers are not favored.

But, with an offensive corps as young as the Packers are, it seems that the performance of Love is more impressive than a lot of the other quarterbacks on this list. No one else has a receiving corps as young, with a defense as bad, and is performing this well week after week.

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