Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is putting up numbers that are eerily similar to his 2011 MVP season.
READ MORE:
Kevin Durant injury comeback – Defending NBA MVP scores 27 in return from injury Derrick Rose clutch play – Chicago Bulls star scores critical 3-pointer to force double-OT Stephen Curry beats Orlando Magic – NBA star plays great game in win over Magic
20 TDs and zero INTs. Those are Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers’ numbers through 13 weeks of the 2014 NFL season. The interesting thing is that many of Rodgers’ numbers are quite similar to the numbers he put up when he won the NFL MVP in 2011 – the year he set the NFL record for QB rating:
2011: 9.0 TD%, 1.2 INT%, 9.2 yards/pass, 122.5 passer rating
2014: 8.4 TD%, 0.8 INT%, 8.8 yards/pass, 118.6 passer rating
All of the parallels are there – the only key difference is that the Packers in 2011 went 15-1 but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. These Packers won’t get that many wins in 2014, but with Aaron Rodgers playing as good if not better than he did in 2011, maybe they won’t be one-and-done in the playoffs again this year.
Here are the top five candidates for NFL MVP heading into Week 14:
Aaron Rodgers – It’s hard to imagine that a QB who in 2011 went 14-1 and had the highest passer rating for a season in NFL history might actually be playing BETTER this year. And yet Aaron Rodgers continues to show that his ceiling is higher than anyone can imagine…
J.J. Watt – If the Houston Texans miss the playoffs Watt’s incredible season will likely go thoroughly unappreciated and unremembered. But know this: There is not a single active NFL head coach who was around the last time a defensive lineman scored 5 TDs in a season.
DeMarco Murray – Lost in how well Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and J.J. Watt are playing is the fact that Murray is poised to break a ton of Cowboys single-season rushing records. No small feat for a team that has had Emmitt Smith, Tony Dorsett and Herschel Walker carry the rock over the past 30 years.
Tom Brady – The glue that keeps the AFC’s best team together, Brady is proving that even at age 37 he is no more likely to suffer any reduction in effectiveness than Manning, Favre or Kurt Warner.
Peyton Manning – He isn’t poised to break any major records this year, but if he gets the Broncos to the NFL’s best record this year he has as good a shot as any other QB to get the award. He does lead the NFL in TD passes though, so that’s certainly a huge feather in his cap.
COMMENTS