Lamar Jackson's status as first-team All-Pro ultimately didn't secure MVP award over Josh Allen

The same 50 people who voted for the MVP award also voted for the All-Pro team. The votes were due only two days apart, in the immediate aftermath of Week 18.

And, somehow, the tabulation of the ballots resulted in Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson being named the first-team All-Pro quarterback — and Bill quarterback Josh Allen being named the MVP.

It makes no sense. I voted for Jackson as both the first-team All-Pro and MVP. In all, 30 of the voters named Jackson the first-team All-Pro; 18 picked Allen. But only 23 of the voters made Jackson the first-place choice MVP. Presumably, seven voters who deemed Lamar the first-team All-Pro quarterback gave Allen their first-place vote for MVP.

No one else got a first-place vote. There were 27 for Allen, 23 for Jackson. And that was enough to give Allen the honor by a total of 21 points.

It all came down to the first place vs. second place votes. Allen got 27 and 22 (plus a third-place vote) and Jackson got 23 and 26 (plus a fourth-place vote).

The term "valuable" in MVP has no consensus definition. Many view it simply as the best player in the league. So how can at least seven voters regard one as the best quarterback and the other as the best player?

To make things even stranger, two voters made Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow the first-team All-Pro quarterback, but no one gave him a first-place MVP vote.

All voters should disclose their ballots, if only to help folks understand who decided to make that All-Pro/MVP distinction — and to confirm (frankly) that the count was accurately performed.

I voted for Jackson first, then Allen, Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, Lions quarterback Jared Goff, and Burrow.