RODGERS PERFORMING AT MVP LEVEL
Ageless Packers passer might be enjoying finest season in Hall of Fame-worthy career
Unless you believe Tennessee monster back Derrick Henry ought to be included, too, the NFL season's MVP race is down to two players.
Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers, both passers extraordinaire.
With each passing week, it's looking more and more as though Rodgers — the 16th-year Green Bay Packers quarterback who turned 37 two weeks ago — is going to be named MVP for the third time in his career, an award he previously earned in 2011 and 2014.
It's not so much because Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs phenom, threw three interceptions on Sunday, while Rodgers has just four on the season.
Rather, it's mainly because Rodgers arguably is having the best passing season of his slam dunk Hall of Fame-worthy career. Let that sink in.
With three games to go, Rodgers leads the NFL in touchdown passes (39), percentage of passes for touchdowns (8.7 per cent), adjusted yards per attempt (9.6), passer rating (119.7) and QBR or quarterback rating (84.8).
He also is on pace for his personal best single-season completion percentage (69.6) over the course of a campaign, and his second best yards-per-game average (283.5).
On Sunday, Rodgers became the first NFLER to have five seasons with 40 or more touchdowns accounted for (meaning both passing and rushing).
Maybe most impressively, Rodgers is playing better every week. Since Green Bay's first loss in an Oct. 18 road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when he had two ugly picks in two stinker quarters (the second and third), here's what Rodgers has done: Tossed 26 touchdown passes; Completed 72.3 per cent of his passes;
Been intercepted only twice; Taken only six sacks.
That's over eight games.
That the man might go three consecutive seasons without throwing as many as five interceptions — all without missing a start — would be a feat that may never be repeated.
If the season ended today, it would be hard not to give Rodgers the MVP award. Like Mahomes in the AFC (at 12-1), no team in the NFC has a better record than Rodgers' Packers (10-3).
The key difference? Mahomes has two Pro Bowl-calibre pass catchers in tight end Travis Kelce and wideout Tyreek Hill — while Rodgers has just one in wide receiver Davante Adams.
MVP voters couldn't go wrong in selecting either passer. Rodgers just seems to be on the higher trajectory.
Now, consider this. If you have a favourite NFL team that isn't Green Bay or Kansas City, and if it doesn't reach the Super Bowl, how could you not hope that the Packers and Chiefs do meet in Tampa on Feb. 7?
On paper, no Super Bowl matchup — past or present — could touch it. Mahomes vs. Rodgers? Are you serious?
Yes, please.
Is Drew Brees at a point in his recovery from a dozen odd broken ribs where he might practice this week, and maybe play against Kansas City on Sunday?
“We'll see,” was all Saints head coach Sean Payton said about Brees on Monday during a conference call with team beat writers.
And don't expect Payton to say much more this week, if anything. It's how he rolls.
Injector Gadget, Taysom Hill, has been running the offence for the Saints over the past four weeks. The team suffered its first loss in that stretch on Sunday and in dismal fashion, a 24-21 setback in Philadelphia.
“I don't think we played well in any phase,” Payton said. “Offensively, it's sloppy. I'm watching the tape right now. The screens, the naked ( bootlegs), the run game — it looks awful. And defensively, the (Eagles) are still running. All the things we didn't want to allow happen, happened in that game … Obviously, when you give up 204 yards rushing, there aren't a lot of things you did well.”
The Saints are tied with Green Bay for the NFC'S best record at 10-3.
Any Dallas Cowboys fans hoping the Joneses will pull the plug on first-year head coach Mike Mccarthy won't like this.
Club VP Stephen Jones on Monday told a Dallas sports radio station there “will be absolutely no change with Mike Mccarthy” after the season.
At 4-9, Dallas is in last place in the NFC East.
“If you look at his track record and pedigree, he's consistently won year in and year out, and we have the utmost confidence that this ship is going to be righted quickly,” owner/gm Jerry Jones' son said, per ESPN.COM. “And Mike's going to be the leader of this group, and he's certainly a great head coach. ...
“He's accomplished a lot and he's going to accomplish a lot more before it's all said and done.”
Gisèle Lévesque, 89, became the first Quebecer to receive the PfizerBiontech COVID-19 vaccine at the Saint-antoine long-term care residence in Quebec City on Monday.