Josh Allen claimed his first MVP title this past season in what was the tightest race for the award in almost ten years. Allen secured 27 first-place votes, while Lamar Jackson earned the remaining 23. As is typical, the selection sparked strong opinions from fans.
What made this year different, however, was that the votes were made public. This caught Dianna Russini of The Athletic off guard when her phone blew up after it was revealed that she had ranked Jackson first and Allen second on her ballot. She later shared the experience with the hosts of Pardon My Take.
“It was the first year it was revealed and I did not know that,” said Russini. “I was out to dinner and my phone was blowing up with people in football very angry that I voted for people that I voted for. So that stunk. I wish I knew that.”
You’d expect voters to receive criticism from fans online, but the fact that people “in football” were upset with Russini raises some interesting questions. She appeared to be unsettled by the reaction to her vote, even though she stated she wouldn’t have changed her ballot if it had been anonymous.
Who, exactly, would feel confident enough to publicly call out someone for casting that particular vote? Russini was one of 23 voters who ranked Jackson first and one of 22 who had Allen second. Given how close the vote was, getting upset with someone over their choice seems petty.
Unfortunately, we may never know if the same people who angrily contacted Russini did the same to others like Mike Florio, Mike Tirico, and Tom Brady, who all had the same top two in the same order. We’ll never know because the messages they received, if any, weren’t made public like the MVP vote. But maybe they should be.
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