Aaron Rodgers can be annoying, but he orchestrates the Pack
Tom Brady showed his frustration Sunday night, as the New Orleans Saints battered him throughout their game in Tampa. He was shut out for the first time in 255 starts. He was sacked four times. On one occasion he pounded his fist into the turf at Raymond James Stadium. Near the end of the game he was intercepted. After he went to the bench and reviewed the play on his tablet, he hurled the tablet, surely disabling it.
Brady at least until Sunday’s 9-0 defeat was the betting favorite to be Most Valuable Player in this fraught football season. In the season after winning his seventh Super Bowl he’s put up a procession of scintillating performances. He’s thrown 36 touchdowns at the doddering age of 44 – six years older than last year’s MVP, Aaron Rodgers, who is his main of not only rival for this year’s most cherished award.
Rodgers has slightly superior numbers than the GOAT, as he does almost every year. But style tends to be more rewarding than substance, and Rodgers’ style tends toward arrogance, selfishness and pettiness. He’s appealingly and intelligently verbose, but sometimes disingenuous. To the point of fraudulent. Passive Aggressive has become attached to his name. He wants out of Green Bay.
If you can imagine that.
He got on the wrong side of MVP voters – at least in the blue states – when he told a roomful of reporters that he was “immunized” against Covid. He then contracted the coronavirus, which is impossible to do if you’re truly immunized.
He’s never provided a coherent explanation of why he deceived and why he chose a scientifically dubious course of action. It’s all the more surprising because he’s a son of a physician. You have to think he’s better prepared than most of us to understand epidemiology and be able to determine who’s more credible, Dr. Fauci or Tucker Carlson.
Rodgers’ obfuscation on Covid had legitimate impact on the MVP contest because he jeopardized the health of his teammates. He violated one of the simplest of the National Football League protocols. If you aren’t vaccinated against the virus, you wear a mask when you’re having face to face discussions with people.
But if that kerfuffle caused a problem with the Packers, we haven’t seen much evidence. After overcoming the obstinate Baltimore Ravens on Sunday afternoon the Packers had the best record in the league, 11-3.
And Rodgers, much in contrast to Brady, does not reveal frustration. He’s utterly unflappable. He directs his team like an orchestra conductor. He was heavily pressured from the blitz-minded Ravens, and he was sacked 3 times. But he shrugged off the assaults, averaged 8.8 yards per throw, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions. Analytics are usually good to him: 84.2 QBR for the game.
Brady followed a few hours later with 4.5 yards per pass and QBR of 18.5, the third-lowest number for that metric since ESPN began tracking it in 2006.
The Saints throttled Brady by doing what every team tries to do: rush him up the middle, put hands in his face and force him to change his launch location. While Rodgers is quick enough — even with the fractured toe he’s only too happy to show us – to run to the corner, Brady is ineffective when he’s moving. His two turnovers Sunday night – a lost fumble and an interception — came when he broke from the pocket.
Dennis Allen, much underpublicized defensive coordinator of the Saints, is fortunate to have the services of three very large, strong and quick linemen. Cam Jordan, Marcus Davenport and David Onyemata combined for 4 sacks and 7 quarterback hits against Brady, who’s 1-4 against Allen’s defense. Sometimes Allen raised the inside heat on Brady by shifting Jordan and Davenport from end to tackle.
Knowing how Brady takes advantage of blitzing linebackers by throwing into the area they vacate, Allen left his linebackers and defensive backs in coverage. Rarely did Brady have receivers open. The defensive scheming by Allen is all the more impressive because he had an enhanced workload for Sunday’s game. He was the replacement head coach for Sean Payton, who tested positive for Covid even though he was fully vaccinated.
Brady and Rodgers have similar stats this season, both completing 67%. But Rodgers’ percentage would be higher if he didn’t throw the ball away to avoid interception risk. You don’t hear him talk of “50-50 balls.” He’s thrown only 4 interceptions this season, compared to Brady’s 11. In passer rating, for what that’s worth, Rodgers is 110.4, Brady 100.4.
We might see the MVP momentum changing.
