Laser Gunns
13 years ago
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Don't believe the hype.

Even though Aaron Rodgers has put together an impressive résumé that includes a Super Bowl title and an MVP award, he is not in the same class with Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. In fact, he might not even be worthy of being placed above Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger on a list of the league's best quarterbacks.

Debate: One QB to win
You've got one game to win and only one quarterback to do it with. Who do you pick? Our experts debated that question, and only one selected Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers. More...
This is not meant to dismiss Rodgers' numerous accomplishments over his six-year career, but the momentum of his scintillating postseason run has led many to proclaim him the league's top quarterback without fully examining where he stands against the best. That's saying a lot, considering Rodgers' numerous accomplishments over the past three years since taking over for the legendary Brett Favre in Green Bay.

Rodgers has topped the 4,000-yard mark in two of his three seasons as a starter and was only a missed game away from surpassing the feat this season (Rodgers finished with 3,922 passing yards in 15 games in 2010). He has been the model of efficiency in the pocket by compiling a passer rating over 100 in two of his three seasons, while also connecting on over 64-percent of his passes during that span. His touchdown-to-interception ratio of 87:32 is outstanding, and few have matched his success as a starter.

Rodgers' combination of poise, patience and accuracy makes him tough to defend. He shows uncanny timing and precision in the pocket, and is superb with his ball placement, hitting his receivers in stride. Although he is able to pick apart defenses with a "connect the dots" approach, he is also an excellent deep-ball thrower with the arm strength, touch and accuracy to punish defenses for creeping up to defend the short game.

In addition to being proficient from the pocket, Rodgers is a dual threat with the ability to hurt opponents with his feet and arm. He ranked only behind Michael Vick and Josh Freeman in rushing yards among quarterbacks last season, and his scrambling skills often result in big plays.

While all aspects of Rodgers' game rate highly, he is surrounded by an outstanding supporting cast that makes the game easier for him. He inherited an offense that was among the game's elite under Favre, and the continued development of the league's best receiving corps makes it hard to credit Rodgers solely for the unit's remarkable output. Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Jordy Nelson, and James Jones are big, physical receivers with excellent running skills. They specialize in turning short passes into big gainers.

In comparison, Rivers and Manning continued to put up big numbers despite playing with a hodgepodge of pass catchers over the past few years. Rivers, in particular, finished as the league's leading passer with a host of street free agents playing prominent roles. Granted, Rodgers can't control the level of talent surrounding him, but it is much easier to enjoy tremendous success when you have the weapons in place to thrive.


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Another overlooked factor in Rodgers' phenomenal run has been the presence of the league's top defense. On the surface, it wouldn't appear that the Packers' defense would have an effect on Rodgers' play, but the added opportunities created off turnovers and three-and-outs leads to short fields and more scoring opportunities. Over the past two seasons, the defense has finished among the top six units in takeaways, and the extra possessions have certainly led to more big plays and production from Rodgers.

Manning, for example, has never been backed by an elite defense, yet he has continued to make the Colts one of the league's most productive units. The Colts led the league in 2010 with 34 10-play scoring drives, with 21 of those resulting in touchdowns.The Packers only produced 17 10-play scoring drives, but finished fifth in the league in points off takeaways.

A laundry list of impressive statistics is certainly a big part in deciding between the best quarterbacks, but it ultimately comes down to winning championships. Rodgers' Super Bowl XLV victory earns him a spot in the conversation, but it is hard to consider him better than Brady and Roethlisberger based on their multiple championship victories.

Brady, who has earned three Super Bowl rings in four tries, is considered the quintessential winner of the modern game. He became the fastest quarterback in the league to win 100 games as a starter, and his flair for orchestrating dramatic comebacks in Super Bowl has cemented his status as the top quarterback in the game.

Roethlisberger has already captured two rings in seven seasons. Although some would say he won his first title in spite of his performance, he earned his stripes with his stirring performance in Super Bowl XLIII over the Arizona Cardinals. His game-winning drive was orchestrated in dramatic fashion with a pinpoint pass to Santonio Holmes winning the game.

While Roethlisberger doesn't compare stylistically to Rodgers, his rings and winning pedigree make it hard to dismiss his standing as one of the top quarterbacks in the game.

Rodgers has deservedly earned a spot at the table with the elite quarterbacks after his scintillating postseason run that resulted in his first Super Bowl title. However, a legacy is built over time, and his résumé is simply too short to put him above some of the great signal callers still playing at a high level in today's game



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i dont believe that Rodgers is the best QB, but some of this guys arguments are trash.

1. Roethlisberger has a good D last i checked...
2. Manning had Harrison/Wayne/Clark, probably the best recieving group at the time.
3. Rivers had good targets too in Gates, V.Jackson, and Floyyd
4. Brees has great recievers and the D had loads of INTs in their SB year
5. Brady had Moss (a HoF lock), Welker in his recent SB year and has only broken 4k yards 3 times.
6. Manning,Brees,Rivers have waay more rings than Arod /heavy sarcasm
7. Bucky acts like Rodgers can control what talent is around him.

MintBaconDrivel
Dec, 11, 2012 - FOREVER!
Nonstopdrivel
13 years ago
1) Anyone who puts Roethlisberger in this conversation based solely on the fact he has two rings instantly loses all credibility, and the rest of his argument can probably be dismissed out of hand. In 13 postseason games, Roethlisberger has thrown a whopping 19 touchdowns to 16 interceptions, for godsake.

2) Show me a single one of those quarterbacks whose rating has increased in the postseason, much less remained over 100, and then we can talk.

This article is nothing more than an uncreative attempt to snag hits by latching onto the tired meme: no matter what Rodgers does, it's never enough.

Had Favre put together a string of seasons like this, you wouldn't be able to see the commentators, your TV screen would be so filled with jizz.
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nerdmann
13 years ago
Arodge's WRs specialize in making short passes into big gainers!?
1: By "short passes" does he mean "anything less than 40 yards downfield?"
2: Look at all the drops these guys had. You could probably make the case that they held him back.
3: Running game? What running game?
“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”
mi_keys
13 years ago
🤦 Another spastic claim to get people frothing at the mouth and swarming their site. This lock out needs to end soon.
Born and bred a cheesehead
Nonstopdrivel
13 years ago
I love how "one pass" out of an entire career of relative mediocrity is enough for a quarterback to earn his stripes.
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Greg C.
13 years ago
As expected, he ends up leaning heavily on the "lifetime achievement" argument. He also makes several other dumb points, which you guys have already pointed out. But I'm sure he'll get plenty of responses.
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Stevetarded
13 years ago
I love when people want to use numbers to try and make a point but only use the regular season. Like playoff stats and accomplishments don't count or aren't even MORE important than the regular season.

Also for some reason no matter what Rodgers actually does on the field he will always be the guy with "the receivers who led the league in YAC in 2007". Lets ignore the fact that he gets more yards through the air and throws more deep passes than almost every QB in the NFL.
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bozz_2006
13 years ago
I honestly don't care what some inflammatory "journalist" thinks. They're all completely full of BS and only care about hits for their site. Everyone knows Rodgers is the f'n man.
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Zero2Cool
13 years ago
Rodgers great but must accomplish more to be called best QB??

That's fine, all I care about is he's called Super Bowl MVP and he's part of the World Champion Green Bay Packers. Chomp on that.
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Pack93z
13 years ago


Read this yesterday.. what a hypocritical label filled waste of bandwidth upon the web.. you go Bucky.



I hope Rodgers reads this article.. one filled with backhand compliment after compliment, harnesses it much like his draft day slide. Plays lights out this season and the gives Bucky the Colin Cowherd treatment.



Hoist the hardware and utter him silent, in embarrassment, with politeness; but with that underlying hard right jab to the guts.
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"
Fan Shout
Zero2Cool (14-Feb) : Packers are hiring Luke Getsy as senior offensive assistant.
Martha Careful (12-Feb) : I would love to have them both, esp. Crosby, but either might be too expensive.
Zero2Cool (12-Feb) : Keisean Nixon is trying to get Maxx Crosby and Davante Adams lol
Mucky Tundra (11-Feb) : Yeah where did it go?
packerfanoutwest (11-Feb) : or did you resctrict access to that topic?
packerfanoutwest (11-Feb) : why did you remove the Playoff topic?
Zero2Cool (10-Feb) : Tua’s old DC won a Super Bowl Year 1 with Tua’s former backup
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : *winning MVP
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : Funny observation I've heard: Carson Wentz was on the sideline for both Eagles Super Bowl wins w/guys supposed to be his back up winning
Zero2Cool (10-Feb) : NFL thought it would get more attention week preceding Super Bowl.
Zero2Cool (10-Feb) : Yes, the Pro Bowl. It was played Sunday before Super Bowl from 2010-2022
packerfanoutwest (10-Feb) : pro bowl
Zero2Cool (10-Feb) : From 2010 to 2022, it was played on the Sunday before the Super Bowl
Zero2Cool (10-Feb) : They moved it to the BYE week before Super Bowl several years ago.
packerfanoutwest (10-Feb) : it was always after the SB.....
beast (10-Feb) : Though I stop following pro bowl years ago
beast (10-Feb) : I thought the pro game was before the Super Bowl?
packerfanoutwest (10-Feb) : ok now for the Pro Bowl Game in Hawaii
TheKanataThrilla (10-Feb) : If I was Philly I would try to end it instead of punting it
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : VICTORY! We have (moral) victory!
TheKanataThrilla (10-Feb) : Hey they mentioned that we 3-peted
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : seems to me the 49ers should have traded Aiyuk when they had the chance
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : if the Eagles get it down to the 1, do they Tush Push or give it to Barkley?
TheKanataThrilla (10-Feb) : 49ers have a money problem if they want to sign their QB
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : Wait for real? Didn't he just get an extension two years ago?
Zero2Cool (10-Feb) : 49ers gonna trade Deebo. Interesting
TheKanataThrilla (10-Feb) : Replays always never seem to show the holdings
TheKanataThrilla (10-Feb) : Great throw by Hurts
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : Where Carter falls prey to bad off the field influences (to be clear, not saying he'd clip someone though)
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : Had Carter not gone to Philly were they already had a lot of old college friends, he ends up in a similar spot to Aaron Hernandez
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : I think some of his coaches told scouts to stay away
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : the street racing incident+conditioning and motivation problems
beast (10-Feb) : Then Carter was street racing, where the other car crashed and people died... and other teams were scared to pick Carter for some reason
beast (10-Feb) : I think the Saints traded up, giving their next year 1st to the Eagles, and then they sucked and Eagles got the 10th overall pick
packerfanoutwest (10-Feb) : wtf Barkley?
TheKanataThrilla (10-Feb) : Getting Carter and Nolan Smith in the first round in 2023 was pretty darn good
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : for some reason i'm thinking of a draft where the Eagles where in the mid 20s and a top player fell all the way to them
TheKanataThrilla (10-Feb) : I think so. I would need to look it up. Think it may have been Carolina's pick.
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : i'm not sure who i'm thinking of now
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : oh fuck me i messed that up
Zero2Cool (10-Feb) : Jordan Davis was 13th overall
Zero2Cool (10-Feb) : Carter was 9th overall
Zero2Cool (10-Feb) : Eagles had 15th and 10th selections, moved to 13 and 9 to get Davis and Carter back to back
Zero2Cool (10-Feb) : Eagles traded up for Carter, didn't they?
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : Obviously he was a huge risk but getting a top 5 talent on the dline in the mid 20s is fortuitous
Mucky Tundra (10-Feb) : Jalen Carter falling into their lap certainly helps
TheKanataThrilla (10-Feb) : And we could only wish to have this type of D
TheKanataThrilla (10-Feb) : It's not like Philly has had low draft picks, but has managed to get themselves a top notch pass rush. We spend so much draft capital of D
packerfanoutwest (10-Feb) : another crap halftime show
TheKanataThrilla (10-Feb) : I think it is over, but then I think of Atlanta and want Philly to go in with the same intensity in the second half
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