The race for this year’s NFL Most Valuable Player award officially ended on a cold, snowy night in Green Bay. It ended when Aaron Rodgers launched a touchdown pass after a touchdown pass and the Packers set the Tennessee Titans on fire. Sunday Night Football. Prior to that point, Rodgers was running neck and neck with Patrick Mahomes of Kansas City for this honor. After this last presentation, it’s difficult to see how Rodgers doesn’t deserve it any more.
The Packers answered many questions during their 40-14 victory over Tennessee, the most obvious being whether they would be able to maintain their constant building momentum as the postseason approaches. They have their claws on top of their heads in the NFC playoffs at the moment, and they seem determined not to let it go. This has a lot to do with the way your future Hall of Fame quarterback is playing. The more this season passes, the more we are reminded of what made Rodgers so special in the first place.
The Packers are now 12-3, with a season finale in Chicago on their regular season schedule. His dreams of raising a Lombardi Trophy at some point in the near future have a lot to do with the excellence of his quarterback.
“It was a solid game,” said Rodgers after completing 21 of 24 passes for 231 yards with four touchdowns and an interception. “I felt good about the performance of our attack. I felt I was at a very good pace all day. Similar to last week, I felt we were playing the ball so well that I just had to be patient.”
Rodgers is this year’s MVP for a simple reason: he did more with less. Mahomes has produced yet another monster season with the help of football’s best tight end, football’s best deep threat and a variety of other quick game makers at your disposal. The Chiefs are so talented that they have struggled to find touches for Le’Veon Bell, three times in the Pro Bowl. This depth makes life much easier for Mahomes when he steps in the center.
Rodgers, on the other hand, raised the game for those around him. He certainly has his own Pro Bowlers – most notably running back Aaron Jones and wide receiver Davante Adams – and newcomer AJ Dillion made a big impression against Tennessee (124 running yards and two touchdowns). However, few people had heard of targets like Robert Tonyan, Allen Lazard and Marquez Valdes-Scantling until Rodgers started throwing coins at them. There is a reason why so many people regretted the Packers’ decision not to add more weapons to this list during the off-season.
It turns out that the Green Bay office was right. They thought they could bet on the future (using a first-round pick from quarterback Jordan Love) and trust Rodgers to lead them in the present. Now that Rodgers has released 44 touchdown passes and just five interceptions this season, he has made it even more difficult for his bosses to see an ideal window to put Love on the pitch. At 37, he set up a season just a year after many skeptics openly asked about his impending decline.
This kind of shine cannot be ruled out.
“Being around him for the past seven years has definitely allowed me to know what it really is to be a real competitor,” said Adams. “Everyone knows that I maintain a crazy high standard and it has been that way for a long time. But being in a situation where I get in and see a guy who has been recovering for so long and I am not satisfied with the success he has. .. being with that guy allowed me to know what true greatness is. “
The Titans saw firsthand what Adams was referring to. Rodgers launched three of his touchdown passes in the first half. He connected with Adams (11 receptions, 142 yards and three touchdowns) early and often. When the Titans started to recover – they closed the deficit to 19-14 after falling behind at 19-0 – Rodgers calmly kept Tennessee at bay by means of point-launch engineering.