Manning had Harrison, Wayne, Clark and James at his disposal.....yes all at the same time. Brees has had similar talent around him as well.
The Patriots are always in contention. Even this year with their horrible defense, Brady has had them in every game. That's with no defense, receiving weapons and a running game on par with what the Packers have. I'm not saying Brady is above Rodgers because I think Rodgers is the best right now but I am saying Brady has been successful with a much worse core of players on offensive and defense.
Brady has the offense doing fine, though not nearly as well as the GB offense. But the Patriots defense has given up all of 5 more total points than the Packers over 8 games, so that's not really a differential here. The entire differential of the two teams is on offense.
On a side note, for all the talk about the Patriots' 32nd ranked pass defense, Green Bay is ranked 31st.
Agreed and Rodgers has a better core of offensive players surrounding him, in my opinion. Not saying he'd do worse with less talent but Brady has done that.
That's interesting considering the amount of attention that the Green Bay secondary was getting in the playoffs last year.
Here's Jason Whitlock's take. http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Aaron-Rodgers-NFL-offensive-bias-goes-too-far-111411 He basically says that Aaron Rodgers is benefiting from rule changes that have greatly helped QB's. While he certainly is that seems like something that would even out through the league. I will agree with him though, even though I am a huge Rodgers' fan it is too early to crown him as the greatest ever. As for the rest of the debate its a somewhat chicken and egg question when you look at great offensive teams. Joe Montana was great but how hard is it when you are throwing to Jerry Rice and Roger Craig?
Given the fact that Rodgers was phenomenal before the lockout, it's going to take a lot more than some semi-biased ranting about rule changes to convince me this kid is having nothing short of a historic season. If it's that "easy" (with the rule changes and surrounding personnel), why isn't everybody doing it then? Why is Phil Rivers stinking up the joint and having his worst season? Why is Michael Vick all of a sudden confused by coverage schemes again? Why isn't Sanchez blowing up with Pro Bowl caliber WR's? Why isn't Flacco getting it done? Why is Sam Bradford flirting with 'bust' status? Why is Ryan Fitzpatrick nosediving? I could go on.
He won 2 superbowls without Rice and one without Craig. He was also pretty good on the KC team that spanked us in the playoffs. Edit: Just to add. There is Joe Montana and everyone else.
In 2007 Brady had Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Donte Stallworth. He throw for 4,800 yards, 50 TDs and only 8 Ints.
I dont think anyones saying its necessarily easy, just that its significantly easier than it was in the past. Perhaps its due to a change in the rules, or maybe its the change in culture of the NFL, who knows. As of right now you have 8 QB's with a QB rating over 93. Unless Rodgers throws for 400 yards tonight (which is a possibility), Brady will be ahead of him in yardage with 3,032 yards and Brees is comfortably ahead of both of them with 3,326 yards. Brees has thrown for more yards than any QB in NFL history through ten games, breaking his own record set in 2010. Compare this to 1989 when Jim Everett led the NFL with 29 TDs. Joe Montana, one of the greatest QB's of all time, threw for over 30 TDs once in his entire career. It was common for good QB's to finish the season with 22 or 23 TD's in the past...22 or 23 TD's is a very pedestrian TD total these days. At the end of this season you could very well have 10 QB's with over 30 TDs. So yes, there's definitely some reason for all the success, and although Rodgers is having a phenomenal year, its important to contextualize his accomplishment in the grand scheme of things.
But what they did before they were in New England? Welker, he was with Miami and wasnt the great WR he is now. Moss sucked big time in Oakland, before going to NE, and what Stallworth before/after playing with Brady.
Has God descended onto Earth and into a Packers uniform? B/c clearly Rodgers has put his game into God mode right now. The guy is clearly on another stratosphere from every other player in this league. It's just amazing watching him operate.
It's crazy. I watched the entire blowout last night until Rodgers left. I want to see every Packers game on TV no matter who they are playing.
I didn't get home from work till 10pm last night. Checked the score throughout the night at work and knew it was a blowout. I STILL had to go home and watched the replay of all his offensive possessions. This guy is clearly must-see-TV. He's playing at a level that I "think" is higher than Manning's or Brady's best years. It's unreal what I am witnessing. This is similar to Kobe's 9 straight 40 point games, or something straight 50 point games--that type of "awe."
There's no doubt the league is shifting in direction dominated by the pass. Not questioning that at all. As you mentioned above, the numbers reflect that. Just merely saying if these rule changes are as drastic as Whitlock seems to suggest, why aren't other underachieving QB's 'taking advantage of them' like Rodgers seemingly is? To me, the answer is simple: some QB's are great no matter what -- and others aren't. Players like Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Roethlisberger (and Manning too, undoubtedly) are dominant no matter what. Statistically, Romo is in that category too. But regardless, you have to have the good to play at the level Rodgers is.
