In what should have been the easiest decision the NFL Honors voters had this year, they somehow botched it. Botched it beyond belief, really.

Thursday night, in what can only be described as a rather stunning ballot, Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills did not win the league’s comeback player of the year award.

The voting panel, made up of 50 media members across print, television, radio and online digital, decided that Joe Flacco - who got off his couch in the middle of November and then played very well in helping the quarterback-challenged Cleveland Browns make it to the playoffs - was the true “comeback” player of the year.

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What exactly was he coming back from? Being washed up following three miserable seasons with the Jets to the point where no team signed him until the Browns - desperate for anyone to play quarterback - took a flier on him? Really?

I generally don’t care at all about individual awards in sports. To me, it’s all about the team and what matters is winning games and winning championships. And I would guess that the vast majority of players in all sports feel the same way.

But awards are a fascination to many others in the media, and certainly among fans, so there is always tremendous attention paid to the process of determining MVPs and the like.

However, this result that was announced Thursday night at the NFL Honors event in Las Vegas, site of Sunday’s Super Bowl, just struck a nerve with me.

All Hamlin needed to do this year to win this award was step back on the playing field. He made worldwide news on Jan. 2, 2023, when he collapsed on the field in Cincinnati due to a freak incident that made his heart stop.

He nearly died right before our eyes, but the incredible work of the Bills’ training and medical staff saved his life. He spent several days in a hospital in Cincinnati, part of that in an induced coma, and once he was released he faced months of tedious rehabilitation not knowing if he’d be able to resume his career.

Yet he was back with his teammates in the spring doing light OTA work before participating fully in training camp and the preseason.

If that wasn’t enough for comeback player of the year, he then dressed for seven games counting the playoffs. Granted, Hamlin contributed very little this season because he was the fifth safety on the Bills’ depth chart behind Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Taylor Rapp and Cam Lewis. That should not have mattered in the voting, but apparently it did.

Joe Flacco thought Damar Hamlin should win comeback player of the year award

Flacco himself admitted earlier in the week during a radio appearance on CBS Sports that he really didn’t think he should be considered for the award, particularly ahead of Hamlin.

“For sure,” Flacco said when he was asked if Hamlin should win. “I don’t know how many snaps he played. I just think mentally, to get yourself back to the point where you feel comfortable doing that kind of thing is pretty cool. I don’t necessarily know what I’m coming back from. I would say most of the guys on that list, I’m not sure what we’re coming back from, so that’s probably my initial reaction.”

Among the others who received votes were third-place finisher Baker Mayfield who merely played much better than he had in 2022, and Matthew Stafford and Tua Tagovailoa who bounced back from injuries to have great seasons.

Hamlin won the Pro Football Writers of America comeback player of the year award, which I was eligible to vote for and selected him.

Josh Allen overlooked for NFL MVP honors

And while I’m on the topic of awards, the MVP ballot was another miss. Lamar Jackson won it in a landslide while Josh Allen finished fifth. In the PFWA ballot, I selected Allen as the MVP and it wasn’t even a tough choice for me. What was an easy choice was not picking Jackson.

I don’t think anyone who has ever read anything I’ve written would call me a homer or a Bills apologist, but Allen was the MVP. The NFL Honors committee had him behind Dak Prescott, Christian McCaffrey and, if you can believe this, Brock Purdy.

Debate this all you want, and I’m sure I’ll be mocked by some on X, but in my opinion Allen was more valuable to the Bills than Jackson, Prescott and Purdy were to their teams. In my mind, McCaffrey had the best case to beat out Allen.

Jackson had a steadier start-to-finish performance than Allen, and he played on the team that finished with the best record, but when you add it up at the end, Allen’s numbers were more impressive.

Allen completed 66.5% of his passes, threw for 4,306 yards with 29 TDs and 18 interceptions (that’s the number that likely dissuaded voters). He also rushed for 524 yards and a QB league-record 15 TDs, giving him a league-high 44 total TDs.

Jackson completed 67.2% of his passes (though he attempted 122 fewer passes), for 3,678 yards, 24 TDs and seven interceptions. He rushed for 821 yards and five TDs, giving him 34 total TDs.

Again, awards generally don’t occupy much of my head space, but these two votes stirred a few embers.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out each Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Damar Hamlin snubbed for comeback player of the year in NFL awards