NFL MVP: Aaron Rodgers vs. Drew Brees
Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees both put up record-setting numbers this season and have their teams primed for a deep playoff run. They each won a Super Bowl in the last two seasons and were named the game’s MVP. They both have confidence in their ability and demand perfection from their teammates. Rodgers and Brees have constantly improved their game over the past few seasons but it is even more impressive how good the players around them have gotten because of their play. Not only are they outstanding quarterbacks but they are even better men off the field in assisting their communities in any way they can. Rodgers and Brees both deserve to be in the conversation for the Most Valuable Player in the NFL this season.
The case for Aaron Rodgers:
| COMP | ATT | YARDS | CMP% | AVG | TD | LONG | INT | FUM | RAT | |
| Aaron Rodgers | 343 | 502 | 4,643 | 68.3 | 9.25 | 45 | 93 | 6 | 4 | 122.5 |
Aaron Rodgers led the Green Bay Packers to their first NFC North division title since 2007. He led the Packers to a 13-0 start and 15-1 overall record in the best statistical season of his career. Rodgers won the NFC Offensive Player of the Month award for September, October and November as well as the FedEx Air Player of the Week four times. He also won the Galloping Gobbler which is presented to the MVP of the Thanksgiving game on FOX. Rodgers had a passer rating of 110 or greater through the first 11 games of the season and is the only player in NFL history to achieve this accomplishment. He also finished the regular season with a passer rating of 122.5, which surpasses Peyton Manning’s NFL record of 121.1 set in 2004. Rodgers tied the all-time record of consecutive games with at least two touchdown passes with 13. Don Meredith, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady also share the record.
The Packers would not be in the position they are today if it wasn’t for the amazing play from their quarterback. Rodgers has Green Bay ranked third in the NFL with 307.8 passing yards per game and his 45 to six touchdown to interception ratio is one of the best in recent memory. The Packers struggled to run the ball once again this season which put more pressure on Rodgers to move the offense down field and score touchdowns. The offensive line has had all sorts of injuries and has been shuffled around quite a bit. Once again, this falls on Rodgers to make sure everyone knows their protection assignments. He has made every throw in the book this season and continues to make jaw-dropping plays.
The Packers are the first team in NFL history with the worst pass defense in the league to ever make the playoffs. That’s right no team with a 32nd ranked pass defense has ever made it to the postseason. That means Rodgers performance was crucial to the success of his team because the Packers didn’t have a defense to rely on in close games.
The Case for Drew Brees:
| COMP | ATT | YARDS | CMP% | AVG | TD | LONG | INT | FUM | RAT | |
| Drew Brees | 468 | 657 | 5,476 | 71.2 | 8.34 | 46 | 79 | 14 | 0 | 110.6 |
Drew Brees led the New Orleans Saints to a 13-3 record and NFC South division crown. He was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week three times this season. Brees posted two 400 yard performances and threw for five touchdown passes in three different games. He shattered Dan Marino’s 27 year-old single-season passing record of 5,084 yards in week 16 against the Atlanta Falcons by finishing the season with 5,476 yards. Brees also set the record for most completions in a season with 468 which broke Peyton Manning’s record of 450, highest completion percentage with 71.2 which surpassed his own record of 70.6, most consecutive 300 yard games with seven and most 300 yard games in a season with 13. He also led the Saints in breaking the 2000 St. Louis Rams net yardage record of 7,075 by finishing with 7,474 and surpassed the Rams net yards passing record by finishing with 5,347.
Clearly Brees and the Saint’s playmakers were an offensive juggernaut this season and have no indication of slowing down in the playoffs. Unlike Rodgers, Brees was aided with a good running attack that ranked sixth in the NFL with an average of 132.9 yards per game. This means that teams had to focus a little bit more on the run then they would have liked to which gave Brees opportunities to make plays down field. Brees converted 69 passes of 20 yards or more and 11 of 40 yards or more and was only sacked 24 times. He led the NFL by converting for 278 first downs, 17 more than second ranked Tom Brady. He is the emotional leader of the team and the Saints would not have been able to move the ball as successfully as they did without Brees quarterbacking them. The Saints also did not have a great passing defense which meant Brees had to stay on top of his game and move the team down the field efficiently in order to ensure victories.
Bottom Line: Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees are both well-deserving of the MVP award. Brees had more completions, yards, higher completion percentage and touchdowns but Rodgers had a higher average per pass, fewer interceptions and a higher passer rating. Overall I think Rodgers had the better season.
The passer rating record should be highly noted because it proves how well he actually performed this year. Rodgers threw eight less interceptions than Brees did while only throwing one less touchdown, and that was without playing in the last game of the season. The 9.25 average yards per attempt is very impressive considering the last person to do it was Peyton Manning in 2004. Green Bay set a franchise record with 15 wins, 14 under Rodgers, with the only loss coming on the road at Kansas City. If there weren’t so many injuries to the offensive line in that game, we would be talking about a perfect season. Not to mention, Rodgers won the head-to-head competition earlier this season when the Packers defeated the Saints at Lambeau Field. It should also be noted that Brees attempted 155 more passes than Rodgers did which is a big reason why he has 833 more passing yards. I understand Brees set many new passing records but I still believe Rodgers was the better overall player.
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I couldn’t agree with you more. Give Rodgers another 150 attempts and I wonder what his stats would look like? He would have blown alot of records out of the water!
how about putting Tom brady in there as well like his leadership and gr8 play didnt get the pats the top seed in the AFC, with their defense Brady should get mvp for lugging those laggards around through the season
I agree Tom Brady had an excellent season but I still think Rodgers and Brees was better. I agree the Pats defense was bad but the Packers was actually worse. Brady’s completion percentage was worse and his average per attempt was better than Brees but not Rodgers. Brady had less touchdowns, more interceptions than Rodgers but two less than Brees and his passer rating was worse than both. Brady is a good player and will have a good postseason but he will not win the MVP.
Thank you for pointing out the obvious. Quantity should not win out over quality. Rodgers QBR, TD-INT ratio and ‘per attempt’ and ‘per completion’ numbers beat Drew hands down. He threw 155 fewer passes, and based on his per-attempt numbers, adding those 155 attempts would have resulted in 58 TD’s and 300+ more yards. He should be sitting at 46 TD 5 INT had Finley not allowed a defender to take a perfectly thrown TD pass right out of his arms. Drew has a higher percentage, but check the DROPS. GB leads in that category as well. Not to mention, Brees gets shorter passes (explaining the 155 additional attempts) with 1/2 his games in a dome, and a solid running game to keep the defense honest. When you look past the big numbers and see what’s underneath, the truth comes out.
Saints had the 6th best rushing offense in the league, so Brees put up all those numbers and records while the Saints were still running the ball…..Rodgers and Brady, while awesome, had no running game to speak of, and chucked the ball all game, and Brees still out-threw them…Saints could have thrown the ball even more, just a staggering offense, led by the MVP Drew Brees.
Brees did throw the ball more though, 155 times more. The running game aided his passing attack, it didn’t take away anything from him throwing the ball down field. Since the Saints had such a good running game opponents had to try and stop the rush, where as with the Packers opposing teams knew they were going to pass. I’m not saying the Saints offense wasn’t staggering but Rodgers was overall better for his team. The Most Valuable Player goes to someone who doesn’t just set records but what they do for their team. The Packers only lost one game this season and most of that had to do with Rodgers because they couldn’t run the ball and gave up 411.6 yards per game of total defense.
The award is for MOST VALUABLE PLAYER. Clearly brees deserves this award. Without brees on the team the saints would have most definitely had a losing record. While the last game of the packer’s season clearly shows how the packers would have performed without Rodgers — probably still with around 10 wins. And if you want the award to be credited to the person with the better stats, well lets just say that Brees broke 10 NFL records this season for his outstanding performance, while Rodgers only broke 2. Not to mention that determining the MVP based on the higher QB rating, pretty much the most flawed and meaningless stat in the NFL, is just completely illogical. Tim Tebow once went 2 for 8 against the Chiefs this season and still managed to obtain a QB rating of 108…yeah it’s all b.s. And its “not how you start, but how you finish”…well Brees has clearly and statistically outplayed Rodgers in the latter half of the season, most have failed to realize this and just continue to focus on Rodgers great performance in the first half of the season, instead of mentioning his mediocre performance in the second half.
DREW BREES IS MVP OF THIS LEAGUE!
Drew Brees IS THE MVP OF THE LEAGUE
Wow.. some of these comments are a tall glass of stupid. Right.. if Rodgers had more attempts, he’d clearly have thrown for 6000 yards this year. And if Rodgers had his entire starting OL against a KC team in turnoil, they’d certainly be 16-0. You are so full of it. If Rodgers hadn’t played with kryptonite in his pocket…. and so on. Not only are you using hypothetical criteria to sell the case for AR, but denying Brees the same hypotheticals. If Brees wins in Lambaeu. If he completes a pass in the end zone against division rival Tampa Bay as time expires. If Kreutz wasn’t a shell of his former self the first quarter of the season. IF IF IF.
Matt Flynn threw for 400 yards and 6 TDs. Matt friggin Flynn. Seems it’s less MVP and more MVR – Most Valuable Receivers. Stop trying to prove that Aaron Rodgers is a lock for this award. I mean, really, there’s an even better case for splitting the honor than when it was shared by McNair and Manning – which by all logic should be the unanimous consensus here. As far as QBR is concerned, look at the second half of the season, where teams do most of their damage in a playoff push. Brees bests AR’s rating during that span, which I would argue is a more critical point in the season.
And just as a final thought… it’s very possible that the owner of the most cherished QB records, including Marino’s and Unitas’s, will retire never having won an MVP. What a joke. He was gipped in ’09 with Manning.. he’ll be gipped again this year. It’s too bad it’s policy to cast the vote with your head up your a$$.
I wasn’t using hypotheticals to build a case, I was just stating facts. If Rodgers attempted 155 more passes he would have most likely broke the same record Brees broke. Just like if Brees threw 155 less passes he would have not broken the record. MVR? Do you have any idea how may passes the receivers dropped this year? Yes, the Packers have the best receiving core in the NFL but they also have one of the best quarterbacks throwing to them. Also, people actually fail to realize how good of a quarterback Matt Flynn really is. He would be a starter on several teams in the NFL and he will for sure be one next year. I realize you probably have never heard of him up until Sunday’s game against the Lions but that doesn’t mean he came out of nowhere. The guy won a national championship in college and has proven himself in two starts in the NFL against two playoff teams. Stop trying to prove Rodgers is a lock for the award? You are basically doing the same thing for Brees so I don’t understand that at all. Your saying just because Brees had a better QBR in the second half of the season he should be the automatic MVP? Rodger’s QBR was higher for the ENTIRE season which is what really matters. I could see the MVP being split this year but honestly I truly believe Rodgers will win it upright because he was simply more valuable to his team this season. There was no running game and the defense gave up 411.6 yards per game, without Rodgers there’s a good chance the Packers aren’t even in the playoffs. Brees had a good running game as the Saints ranked sixth in the league and even though the defense gave up a lot of yardage, they were decent at stopping the run. I totally agree Brees got screwed in 2009 when he lost it to Manning and I’m sure people like yourself will think he will be screwed over again if he doesn’t win it this year.
You also have to realize you said nothing in your argument to prove Brees deserves the award so I really don’t get the purpose of your rant. I believe this is how it will go down: Rodgers will win the MVP and Brees will win offensive player of the year. I’m not saying one is more deserving than the other, this is just how I see it turning out. Brees had a magical season filled with lots of passing records but that doesn’t automatically make him the MVP.