In the divisional round of the 2017 NFL playoffs, the Green Bay Packers were tied with the Dallas Cowboys, facing a third-and-20 with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers took the snap, rolled to his left, ran towards the sideline to buy time, and flung a 35-yard dart across his body. The ball narrowly avoided a Cowboys defender and landed in the hands of Packers tight end Jared Cook, who was pressed against the sideline. Joe Buck, Fox Sports' play-by-play announcer,said “the pass is incomplete, out of bounds.” Seconds later, both he and color commentator Troy Aikman exclaimed, “That is unbelievable!” The pass set up a game-winning field goal as time expired. It was one of the greatest throws in NFL history, but you wouldn’t know it from the muted reactions of Jared Cook and the rest of the Packers. That’s because it was just another day at the office for Aaron Rodgers, the man who makes the impossible seem probable.
Aaron Rodgers is a Super Bowl champion and two-time MVP. He’s also the most talented and criminally underrated quarterback in NFL history. After yesterday’s Week 10 game against the Jaguars, Rodgers is 10 touchdown passes away from joining the 400 touchdown pass club. The six quarterbacks who have thrown 400 career touchdowns are Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Dan Marino and Brett Favre. At the time of his 400th touchdown pass, Brady had 143 interceptions, Brees 196, Manning 198, Rivers 202, Marino 231 and Favre 258. Rodgers? Right now he has 87 career interceptions. That’s a list of some of the greatest quarterbacks ever, and none of them are close to Rodgers when it comes to taking care of the ball. Rodgers’ career touchdown to interception ratio? 4.5 to 1. Next best? Russel Wilson, 3.3 to 1. Absurd.
Rodgers has a cannon for an arm, being able to both sit in the pocket or throw on the run, often making plays with his legs as a runner. His highlight reel is stuffed full of plays that Tom Brady and Peyton Manning could never dream of making. But the NFL is a business focused on winning, and Rodgers doesn’t have the Super Bowl pedigree of the Brady, Montana and Bradshaw crowd, causing our underappreciation of his wondrous pedigree. Rodgers won his lone Super Bowl in 2011,throwing for 304 yards and three touchdowns in a win over the Steelers. His pursuit of a second ring has been tragically hindered bybroken collarbones, former head coach Mike McCarthy’s questionable game management theories, and Packers defenses that don’t seem to stop anybody. Still, with Rodgers under center, the Packers have played in the NFC championship game in three of the past six years.
Rodgers is one of the most intelligent quarterbacks in the NFL, and he plays like it. No quarterback in the NFL is better at earning free plays with hard counts that cause defenses to jump offside or quick snaps that catch the defense with too many men on the field mid-substitution.Number 12 capitalizes on it. In 2019 the NFL’s football operations department found that since 2006, Rodgers had thrown 84 passes on free plays for almost 2000 yards. Over that time period, Ben Roethlisberger is a distant second with just over 1,000 yards passing on free plays.
In his 16th year in the league, Rodgers has the Packers sitting atop the NFC and has the best quarterback rating in the NFL. The guy is must-see TV every Sunday. Still, outside of ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith consistently calling him a“baaaaad, baaaaad man,” I don’t hear nearly enough about Rodgers' game. For some reason, he’s barely a part of this year’s MVP discussion and it just doesn’t seem like football fans understand how special he is. Why is that? Maybe it’s because he only has one Super Bowl ring. Maybe it’s because he plays in the NFL’s smallest market. Or maybe some people just really don’t like the State Farm ads.
Nonetheless, what is clear is that Aaron Rodgers is a once-in-a-generation talent who should not be taken for granted. Despite his sole Super Bowl, he is too great a player to retire with just one ring. Whether this season or those after will provide his second is yet to be known, but it's something I’d certainly put my money on.
