That’s right. The Green Bay Packers have turned their season around and quarterback Aaron Rodgers is clearly among the reasons, if not the primary reason for that.
Rodgers was just named the NFC offensive player of the week for his dismantling of the Seattle Seahawks’ defense. Rodgers was 18-of-23 for 246 yards and three touchdowns. More impressive were these numbers: 78.3 completion percentage, 150.8 rating, 10.7 yards per attempt. Those last three stats are season highs. Rodgers did it against one of the best defenses in football and he did it in just a little over three quarters.
So there you have that.
The bigger picture here is Rodgers is playing like an MVP again. That wasn’t always the case this season, regardless of what anyone tells you. As Shawn and Monty discussed on the podcast earlier this week, there is a difference in Rodgers since around week 7. His accuracy has returned. His willingness to stand in the pocket and not take off running at the first sign of trouble has returned. In other words, his fundamentals have returned.
That has resulted in some great quarterback play — not for that entire stretch, but definitely through the past four games.
Overall, Rodgers is now seventh in the league in yards, with 3,529; fourth in QB rating, with 101.1; and first in touchdown passes, with 32. Probably more important to this conversation is that Rodgers’ value to the Packers’ success is obvious. When he plays well, the team plays well. When he doesn’t, they don’t.
Who else is in this MVP conversation? Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, Derek Carr, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, and maybe even Matthew Stafford.
Frankly, if the Packers come back and win the division and Rodgers continues to play at the level he’s playing at, he has as strong a case as anyone.
Tom Brady? The Patriots have proven they can win with his backup. Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott? They’ll probably cancel each other out. Matthew Stafford? Only a legit candidate if the Lions win the division. Matt Ryan? Does anyone even respect Atlanta? Derek Carr? Statistically inferior to Rodgers.
There’s a long way to go, but this is where we are right now. Aaron Rodgers is a legitimate MVP candidate again.