In the last 10 years there have been six different Most Valuable Players in the National Football League. Three players have won the award multiple times with Lamar Jackson owning two trophies, Aaron Rodgers has three, and Patrick Mahomes has won it twice. The other three players are Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, and Cam Newton. From 2014 to last season, here is who won it and when:
• 2014-Aaron Rodgers
• 2015-Cam Newton
• 2016-Matt Ryan
• 2017-Tom Brady
• 2018-Patrick Mahomes
• 2019-Lamar Jackson
• 2020-Aaron Rodgers
• 2021-Aaron Rodgers
• 2022-Patrick Mahomes
• 2023-Lamar Jackson
In each of those seasons, some of these award-winning players went up against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Some did not have the Black and Gold on their schedule. What follows is how they faired in their M.V.P. seasons when they had to call signals facing the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 2014. Aaron Rodgers was with the Green Bay Packers and did not see the Steelers that year.
• 2015. Cam Newton had a momentous year, won Most Valuable Player, did not play the Steelers, then his career quickly fizzled.
• 2016. Matt Ryan now retired won the award for this season but none of the games he played were facing the Steelers.
• 2017. It was Tom Brady’s year. Surprisingly, this was the only season he won M.V.P. in the last 10 seasons. Brady did face the Steelers during his Most Valuable Player run and he and his Patriots comrades defeated Pittsburgh 27-24. In that game, Brady completed 22 of 35 passes for 298 yards while tossing one touchdown pass and he got picked off once.
• 2018. Patrick Mahomes. As the Kansas City quarterback was on his way to winning the M.V.P. for the season, the Chiefs had won their season opener before traveling to Heinz Field to take on the Steelers. The game was a shootout with a final score of 42-37 in favor of Kansas City. Mahomes outdueled Ben Roethlisberger although both signal callers had substantial numbers. Mahomes passed for 326 yards missing on just five of 28 passes and was responsible for six passing touchdowns. He was sacked just once. Not to be outdone, Big Ben threw the ball 60 times that day and completed 39 passes for 452 yards and three touchdowns. Like Mahomes he did not throw an interception. That and he was sacked just once. JuJu Smith-Schuster was the primary recipient of Roethlisberger’s arrows catching 13 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown.
• 2019. Lamar Jackson. As a division rival, Jackson gets a shot at the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 11 of the NFL on Sunday November 17. But in 2019 when he was cruising to two M.V.P. awards he played in the first game of the season series but skipped the second. On October 6, 2019, Baltimore upended the Steelers 26-23 at Heinz Field. Jackson was the starting quarterback and was held in check with only 161 yards passing and a low 54.9 QB rating. He was sacked five times and intercepted three times. But his team won.
• 2020. Aaron Rodgers. Still with the Packers Rodgers again did not have Pittsburgh on his schedule. He did face the Steelers in the Super Bowl and won but during this M.V.P. year he was saved from the Blacka and Gold.
• 2021. Rodgers again. This time Pittsburgh was on the schedule and the game had a final result of Green Bay 27 Pittsburgh 17. Rodgers was 20 of 36, 248 yards, sacked three times and passed for two touchdowns.
• 2022. Patrick Mahomes again but no faceoff with the Steelers.
• 2023. Lamar Jackson…again. Last season as always, the Ravens and Steelers played twice. Oddly enough, both games ended in a score of 17-10. Both were won by the Steelers. Jacksonville only played in one of those games. That was on October 8 in Acrisure Stadium and Jackson threw for 236 yards but was sacked four times and picked once.
Now comes two games in 2024 and Lamar Jackson is marching towards a third M.V.P. award. It seems the Steelers have Baltimore’s number and Jackson does not fair well facing a Pittsburgh defense. We shall see.
