When the Los Angeles Rams face the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, the game will feature the last two MVP winners. Josh Allen won the award in 2024 and Matthew Stafford won the award in 2025, and this will be the fourth time that the quarterbacks have played against one another. It will also be the first time since 2015 that the last two MVPs have faced off against one another and they don’t play in the same conference.
Inter-conference MVPs have not faced off since Aaron Rodgers played against Peyton Manning
in 2015.
MVP quarterbacks who play in the same conference is obviously more common, but still doesn’t happen every year. The last four instances featured either Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes:
- 2025 Allen vs Jackson
- 2024 Jackson vs Mahomes
- 2020 Jackson vs Mahomes
- 2019 Mahomes vs Brady
- 2017 Matt Ryan vs Cam Newton (twice)
To find the next-most recent example of quarterbacks in different conferences before Rodgers-Manning, you have to go back to the 1976 Super Bowl between the Vikings and Raiders; Fran Tarkenton and Ken Stabler.
In Allen’s 10th career start, he faced Stafford’s Lions and won 14-13.
The next time they faced off was 2022, as the Bills blew out the defending Super Bowl champions 31-10 in Week 1.
Two years later, Allen had 342 yards and three touchdowns against the Rams in Week 14 and scored three more touchdowns on the ground. However, the Rams won 44-42, holding off Buffalo’s comeback attempt.
Allen still won MVP that season, a controversial close victory over Lamar Jackson. The Bills lost to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.
In 2025, Stafford led the league in passing yards and touchdowns and won an even closer MVP vote over Drake Maye. Allen finished third. The Rams lost to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship.
Allen is off to another crazy start, as he leads the NFL with seven rushing touchdowns, which is even more than his six touchdown passes.
Home teams are 8-2 in the 10 previous meetings of the last two MVP winning quarterbacks.
