Aaron Rodgers....

[Nigel Tufnel]

So, I'm sitting at the local bar today having a couple of drinks and having some Nigel alone time. Watching Sportscenter and one of their topics is "Tebow for MVP?" I couldn't care less about all this Tebow stuff....completely indifferent. But my initial reaction is, "Ummm...Aaron Rodgers?" I then got to texting back and forth with a buddy of mine who is huge NFL fan. The discussion ultimately came down to whether Aaron Rodgers might be currently playing the position of QB better than anyone in NFL history.

What says you? There have been a lot of great QBs....but I took a look at Rodgers career stats....his first year as a starting QB was in 08-09. He is currently in his fourth season as a starter. His stats are ridiculous. I'm not an NFL freak...I like it. I watch it. But I never realized how good his stats are. Not to mention how easy he makes it look. The dude could throw a 40 yard out and the football wouldn't go over 6.5 feet off the ground.

I initially thought my buddy was crazy talking about how great Rodgers is....but now I'm starting to wonder if we are watching the best QB ever in his prime.

Montana, Favre, Marino, Young, Manning, Brady, Brees....I'm sure I've missed 20 other ones.....are we watching the best ever right now with Rodgers?

[D-West & PO-Z]

He is having an amzing season. When it is all said and done it could be one of the best seasons ever for a QB. I think he has to do the same thing for several more years to get him in the overall QB talk. He has looked fantastic though, just look what he did to my G-Men in 58 secs to win the game last night.

[Nigel Tufnel]

He is having an amzing season. When it is all said and done it could be one of the best seasons ever for a QB. I think he has to do the same thing for several more years to get him in the overall QB talk. He has looked fantastic though, just look what he did to my G-Men in 58 secs to win the game last night.

Those were my initial thoughts too. But he's actually had four amazing seasons. His first year as a starter he threw 28 TD's and 13 INTs. That was his worst season.

Look at this....

2008-09 Green Bay 16 93.8 341 536 63.6 4038 252.4 7.5 28 13
2009-10 Green Bay 16 103.2 350 541 64.7 4434 277.1 8.2 30 7
2010-11 Green Bay 15 101.2 312 475 65.7 3922 261.5 8.3 28 11
2011-12 Green Bay 12 125.3 288 408 70.6 3844 320.3 9.4 37 5
Career 66 103.8 1326 2019 65.7 16567 251.0 8.2 124 37

Wondering if there has ever been a QB with these types of stats in his first four years.

[D-West & PO-Z]

I know he has been great from the start. I think he probably really benefited from getting to sit and learn for 3 years before being thrown in there. That to an extent may be why his numbers are so good in his first 4 seasons compared to some of the other great QBs first 4 years.

Still though Rodgers needs to continue to do it over the next several seasons. Nothiong suggests that he wont. He is the best in the NFL at what he does at this time though.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Manning started right away as a rookie and had some pretty impressive numbers his first four years.

-----------------------------------yds avg td int rtg
1998 IND 16 326 575 56.7 3,739 6.50 26 28 3 71.2
1999 IND 16 331 533 62.1 4,135 7.76 26 15 1 90.7
2000 IND 16 357 571 62.5 4,413 7.73 33 15 4 94.7
2001 IND 16 343 547 62.7 4,131 7.55 26 23 4 84.1

He was thrown into the fire right away though.

I think one of the most impressive things about Rodgers is how he takes care of the ball. He doesnt thrown very many interceptions.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Manning started right away as a rookie and had some pretty impressive numbers his first four years.

-----------------------------------yds avg td int rtg
1998 IND 16 326 575 56.7 3,739 6.50 26 28 3 71.2
1999 IND 16 331 533 62.1 4,135 7.76 26 15 1 90.7
2000 IND 16 357 571 62.5 4,413 7.73 33 15 4 94.7
2001 IND 16 343 547 62.7 4,131 7.55 26 23 4 84.1

He was thrown into the fire right away though.

I think one of the most impressive things about Rodgers is how he takes care of the ball. He doesnt thrown very many interceptions.

Agreed. Manning and Rodgers were definitely put in two very different situations. But from what I've seen of the Packers this year, their defense isn't that great. They wouldn't be undefeated if not for Rodgers.

Plus, I've got no beef with Manning, but he doesn't have Rodgers' arm. He is the perfect field general, but Rodgers has a cannon that very few can boast. I'm talking myself into thinking we are seeing the best ever in his prime.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Agreed. Manning and Rodgers were definitely put in two very different situations. But from what I've seen of the Packers this year, their defense isn't that great. They wouldn't be undefeated if not for Rodgers.

Plus, I've got no beef with Manning, but he doesn't have Rodgers' arm. He is the perfect field general, but Rodgers has a cannon that very few can boast. I'm talking myself into thinking we are seeing the best ever in his prime.

Agreed that the Packers wouldnt be undefeated without Rodgers. However have you seen the Colts without Manning???? These Packers would not be a ZERO win team without Rodgers. The Colts went from SB contenders to the WORST team in the NFL. Even the year Tom Brady was hurt for the year the Patriots still won 11 games.

At this point I think one can say what we have been watching from Peyton Manning over the last decade is the the best anyone has ever seen.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Agreed that the Packers wouldnt be undefeated without Rodgers. However have you seen the Colts without Manning???? These Packers would not be a ZERO win team without Rodgers. The Colts went from SB contenders to the WORST team in the NFL. Even the year Tom Brady was hurt for the year the Patriots still won 11 games.

At this point I think one can say what we have been watching from Peyton Manning over the last decade is the the best anyone has ever seen.

Good points. I guess the only way we could actually compare would be putting Rodgers in Manning's position. You are right though....you take Rodgers away from the Packers...they wouldn't be winless. But I wonder if Rodgers could have done the same stuff with Manning's teams. Interesting...

[jwmann2]

Rodgers has blind sided me. Even last year, I wasn't giving him a lot of love. I like his game, he's modest like Tebow. Mccarthy has a good thing going in Green Bay but wait until you see what Andy Dalton is going to be doing in his 4th year.

[pickledpigsfeet]

Good points. I guess the only way we could actually compare would be putting Rodgers in Manning's position. You are right though....you take Rodgers away from the Packers...they wouldn't be winless. But I wonder if Rodgers could have done the same stuff with Manning's teams. Interesting...

I think that the problem with the taking Manning off the Colts' argument is that it isn't just taking Manning out, by design it also significantly changes the offensive system and game plan. The Colts' system was so geared towards Manning that you aren't just removing the player, you're removing the system too. The Colts' essentially have put all their eggs in one basket, player and system together.


If you take Rodgers off of GB, they still run the same system, and its a system that is used elsewhere in the league so others can pick it up and run it effectively. The Colts' can't say that. They can't even say that the next guy on the depth chart can run the same system. No one else calls their own plays and makes their own decisions like Manning does. There are times when he will even wave the punt team off the field so they can go for it on fourth down.

This isn't to say that Manning is better than Rodgers, I'm just pointing out the differences and the fact that its hard to compare Manning to anyone. I'm also not saying that Rodgers is a system QB because I think that he would do well just about anywhere, but he is a great fit for that offense.

[LyonsIsFlyin]

When we were playing in Milwaukee 2 years ago in the tourney, during the day in between we went around to all the local bars to get nice and drunk and "experience" Milwaukee. While at the bar Xavier had it's gatherings(can't remember the name) I struck up a conversation with a local about all their sports and obviously we talked about Aaron Rodgers. Can't remember exactly what it was I said but went something like "I have a huge man-crush on Aaron, dude is sexy on that field", which was followed by loud laughter by most the bar that extremely confused me. Then someone finally pointed out that Aaron was with a group of people at the end of the bar. Felt a little funny.

[Mrs. Garrett]

I think that the problem with the taking Manning off the Colts' argument is that it isn't just taking Manning out, by design it also significantly changes the offensive system and game plan. The Colts' system was so geared towards Manning that you aren't just removing the player, you're removing the system too. The Colts' essentially have put all their eggs in one basket, player and system together.


If you take Rodgers off of GB, they still run the same system, and its a system that is used elsewhere in the league so others can pick it up and run it effectively. The Colts' can't say that. They can't even say that the next guy on the depth chart can run the same system. No one else calls their own plays and makes their own decisions like Manning does. There are times when he will even wave the punt team off the field so they can go for it on fourth down.

This isn't to say that Manning is better than Rodgers, I'm just pointing out the differences and the fact that its hard to compare Manning to anyone. I'm also not saying that Rodgers is a system QB because I think that he would do well just about anywhere, but he is a great fit for that offense.

The thing that sets Rodgers apart from "any QB" in that system is that he just doesn't make many mistakes. He also makes plays that a lot of quarterbacks can't. And if this is a system used around the league why aren't other quarterbacks having the same success as Rodgers? What sets Rodger apart from Manning is his mobility, Manning just can't get himself outside of the pocket when he is in trouble.

The Packers also have done a great job drafting WRs. He has a lot of weapons.

When you only throw 5 interceptions through 12 games, that in itself should set a QB apart from the others out there.

Yes I am a Packers fan. And yes Rodgers makes me sit a for a second and say "Brett who?".

[mohr5150]

For three years, Kurt Warner was ridiculous. He put up stats that were unheard of, both for TD's and yards. Then he got hurt, and his career went down the crapper. He came back very strong his last three years in Arizona, but I'll never forget the way he played with those Rams teams in the late 90's/early 00's.

[Lloyd Braun]

In just over 270 Red Zone pass attempts since 2008 Rodgers has 78 TDs and 1 INT.

[Xavier]

In just over 270 Red Zone pass attempts since 2008 Rodgers has 78 TDs and 1 INT.

I know this is about Rodgers, but when watching a Patriots game I saw Tom Brady throw his first red zone INT of his career this year. I thought that was an amazing stat

[Lloyd Braun]

I know this is about Rodgers, but when watching a Patriots game I saw Tom Brady throw his first red zone INT of his career this year. I thought that was an amazing stat

I think that stat for Brady was only home games if I remember correctly. Still impressive though.

[Cheesehead]

Being that I am from Wisconsin and still a huge Packer fan....yes, Aaron Rodgers is the best QB in history.

End of discussion. That should do it.

[XULucho27]

Hey Rodgers.......

http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Screen-shot-2011-10-27-at-5.01.24-AM.png

Discount Double Check!