NFL MVP - Brees or Rodgers?

[bigpern23]

I'd vote for Tom Brady.

It could be argued that Green Bay would have won division without Rodgers (see Flynn's performance yesterday) and same for New Orleans. Take Tom Brady away from the Patriots and what do you have? Half of Brady's INT's came from early in the season when he was forcing ball into OchoCinco to try and make him part of the offense. Once he stopped that - I'd stack his numbers against anyone.

The Pats were pretty respectable when Cassel was the QB.

The Pats defense was respectable when Cassel was the QB. This year the defensive backfield was so bad that they had to have back-up receivers become starters. Huge difference between teams.

Belichick's been doing that since Troy Brown was playing in the defensive backfield. Pats defense is awful, yes, but WRs playing defense is nothing new in New England.

It's Rodgers for me, but I understand if Brees wins for an historic season. Versatile's stats offer the best argument in favor of Rodgers and I haven's seen anyone come close to offering a better argument for Brees (and Brady isn't close in this discussion).

 

[IllMil]

I can't figure out if Jordie Nelson is this good or if he's the beneficiary of a great system.

Is Jordie Nelson a lingerie league player?

 

[JC]

I'd vote for Tom Brady.

It could be argued that Green Bay would have won division without Rodgers (see Flynn's performance yesterday) and same for New Orleans. Take Tom Brady away from the Patriots and what do you have? Half of Brady's INT's came from early in the season when he was forcing ball into OchoCinco to try and make him part of the offense. Once he stopped that - I'd stack his numbers against anyone.

The Pats were pretty respectable when Cassel was the QB.

The Pats defense was respectable when Cassel was the QB. This year the defensive backfield was so bad that they had to have back-up receivers become starters. Huge difference between teams.

Belichick's been doing that since Troy Brown was playing in the defensive backfield. Pats defense is awful, yes, but WRs playing defense is nothing new in New England.

It's Rodgers for me, but I understand if Brees wins for an historic season. Versatile's stats offer the best argument in favor of Rodgers and I haven's seen anyone come close to offering a better argument for Brees (and Brady isn't close in this discussion).

Brees "historic" record came in a season where Brady also passed Marino and Stafford came close. What Marino did was far more impressive.

So why exactly is Brady not close in the discussion?

 

[YGBFKM]

Brady shouldn't be in the conversation. By his own standards he didn't have his best year, and, again, Rodgers' year was transcendent. Their seasons are hardly comparable.

 

[BrianGriffin]

Brees is the second most accurate passer in NFL history. Rodgers is fourth. So we're splitting hairs.

Brady is ninth, for what it's worth. I don't think Brady should be in this conversation. I mean, you can diminish Brees' records, but he did set them. And he set them on a 13-3 team, so they were contributing to a winning effort.

Brees threw for more yards and more touchdowns than Brady. And while he threw 2 more ints than Brady, he threw one for every 49.9 attempts and Brady threw one for every 50.9 attempts, so there's not really much difference there.

More TDs, more yards and leading the most prolific offense in terms of yards in the history of the NFL I think more than makes up for two extra picks.

But having said that, Rodgers was better than Brees. It's Rodgers, Brees then Brady.

Now, in a normal year, any one of those three seasons would win MVP hands-down. But you had three exceptional seasons and you can only pick one.

 

[bigpern23]

I'd vote for Tom Brady.

It could be argued that Green Bay would have won division without Rodgers (see Flynn's performance yesterday) and same for New Orleans. Take Tom Brady away from the Patriots and what do you have? Half of Brady's INT's came from early in the season when he was forcing ball into OchoCinco to try and make him part of the offense. Once he stopped that - I'd stack his numbers against anyone.

The Pats were pretty respectable when Cassel was the QB.

The Pats defense was respectable when Cassel was the QB. This year the defensive backfield was so bad that they had to have back-up receivers become starters. Huge difference between teams.

Belichick's been doing that since Troy Brown was playing in the defensive backfield. Pats defense is awful, yes, but WRs playing defense is nothing new in New England.

It's Rodgers for me, but I understand if Brees wins for an historic season. Versatile's stats offer the best argument in favor of Rodgers and I haven's seen anyone come close to offering a better argument for Brees (and Brady isn't close in this discussion).

Brees "historic" record came in a season where Brady also passed Marino and Stafford came close. What Marino did was far more impressive.

So why exactly is Brady not close in the discussion?

No quotes needed on "historic." It was historic. Fact. Feel free to argue Marino's season was more impressive. Brees' season was historic by any definition.

And Brady's not close because Rodgers was more dominant. Six more TDs, six fewer INTs than Brady. A 9.25 yards/attempt average compared to 8.57 for Brady. A higher completion percentage. A higher quarterback rating.

Rogers leads Brady in every statistical category except yardage and he had 100 fewer attempts. If he threw it 600 times like Brady did, completing 68 percent of his passes at 9.25 yards per clip, their yardage would have been about even.

Oh, and Rodgers team won their first 13 games and lost only one all season. So, no, Brady is not close to Rodgers in this discussion.

The argument to be made for Brees is that he accomplished several feats this season that no other quarterback in the history of the NFL has. Those make for a worthy discussion. And it's one Brady isn't a part of. Brady had a great season and the man is a legend. But Rodgers and Brees were both better this year.

 

[Double Down]

Put Rodgers on the Patriots, and I bet they finish 14-2. At worst.

 

[JC]

Put Rodgers on the Patriots, and I bet they finish 14-2. At worst.

Rodgers yes, Brees I doubt.

 

[BrianGriffin]

Put Rodgers on the Patriots, and I bet they finish 14-2. At worst.

Rodgers yes, Brees I doubt.

Why not? I mean, all he did was lead the most prolific offense in NFL history while setting the league's single-season passing record. On top of everything else, Brees had a better rating than Brady, so one would expect Brees to have given the Patriots slightly better results.

Of course, these guys aren't simply interchangeable. All three have been with their teams for many years. So plug Aaron Rodgers into the Patriots and he would struggle some with adjusting. Same with Brees. Same with Brady.

 

[Double Down]

Brady would not struggle in New Orleans system. In fact, Gresham is very similar to Gronk and Hernandez in terms of athletic ability and understanding how to get open. Brady would also utilize Sproles plenty, the same way he did Woodhead in 2010. Brady could absolutely play in the shotgun and gun the ball all over the field in Sean Peyton's quick read, get the ball to the spot where pressure comes from, system. Brady understands timing than any quarterback since Montana. There is literally no system he couldn't play in.

I'm actually not convinced Brees would be as good if he had to play all his games outdoors. He'd obviously still be a great player, but playing fast break offense on grass isn't as easy when you add the elements into the equation. One of Rodgers' strengths is he throws such a tight spiral with so much velocity. You look at great quarterbacks from cold weather cities and they all have one common thread: Big arms. (Favre, Rodgers, Elway.) I'm convinced Rodgers throws the best ball in NFL history, which doesn't mean he's the best QB in history, but he has effortless power and he can also put a ton of touch on the ball. If you put Rodgers indoors for 10-plus games a season, in an offense where he threw the ball 55 times and didn't sit out a single fourth quarter the way Brees did this year, he might throw for 60 touchdowns and 5,700 yards. He probably wouldn't have Brees' completion percentage, but he would forking destroy defenses.

Brees is a great player. As a person, I love the guy. I think he reads defenses remarkably well. But put him in Foxborough for eight games, the New Meadowlands for one, Buffalo for another, Pittsburgh and one, I do not think he would do what Brady does. His quarterback rating indoors this year was 120.8. In outdoor games, it was 95.7. He's had similar splits like that throughout his career.

Every single game Brady has played this year has been outdoors, and his QB rating is 105. Put him in that New Orleans offense, let him play 13 games indoors, and I bet he breaks Marino's record too.

 

[BrianGriffin]

I'll buy that I guess. But I think if Brees played outdoors, he'd be fine. His problem with playing outdoors right now is he does it so dang infrequently. Between the Superdome and the Georgiadome, they are guaranteed at least nine games a year indoors. They played 11 this year.

So one would expect Brady to be better throwing outdoors, given he plays outdoors all the time. I'm sure Manning throws better indoors too.

It's a small adjustment to go outside to inside and get taken out of the elements. It's a bigger adjustment the other way.

 

[IllMil]

Every single game Brady has played this year has been outdoors, and his QB rating is 105.

That is remarkable. Just the fact he's played every game outdoors. I had to check it myself I found it so unbelievable.