/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/4372252/129023081.jpg)
Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a lot of praise for the play of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers won a Super Bowl last year for the Packers, his team is undefeated, and he's playing MVP caliber football - this praise is well deserved.
However, many fans and members of the media have taken the opportunity to crown Aaron Rodgers the king of football, the best player in the league - better than the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Of course, the Manning argument isn't really fair because he probably won't be playing this year. But Rodgers is suddenly better than Tom Brady? Really?
Tom Brady may be 34 years old but I don't think many would disagree that he is having one of the best years of his career. Through five games, Brady has racked up over 1,800 and fourteen touchdowns. If it wasn't for one bad half in one game, he would only be at two interceptions on the year. And speaking of which, the argument against Brady this year has been his interception count - which currently stands at six. Four of those interceptions either came on deflections off helmets at the line of scrimmage or bounced off an open receiver's hands. I'm not saying that Brady shouldn't be held accountable for his mistakes, but I don't think anyone that has watched him week in and week out could say that the interceptions have been entirely his fault.
Lets move on from that argument. As I said, Brady is 34, but is coming off an MVP season. Of course, he can't do the things that Aaron Rodgers can do outside of the pocket - and I'm not saying he can. The two are different players. Both are top of their games and both are top three NFL quarterbacks at the moment (excluding Peyton, including Drew Brees). And even if Rodgers is having the better season at this point, it's only a sample size of five games and shouldn't be the marker for who is the better player.
However, if somebody asked me which quarterback of the two I'd rather have right now, I'd still go with Brady. He hasn't shown any signs of decline, and he is on track to break NFL records once again this year. For the other side of the argument, let me give you an excerpt from a recent article written by Chris Collinsworth:
I can't remember the last time I even considered answering the question about the NFL's best player with any name other than Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. But, after watching Aaron Rodgers against the Broncos, there is a new name on top of my list.
Tom Brady was the unanimous MVP last year and I was one of the voters. But, as brilliant as Brady continues to be, Rodgers is the Super Bowl champion and is more mobile than Brady. Defensive coordinators have to play Rodgers the way they play Mike Vick -- he's that big of a dual threat.
Last week Rodgers set an NFL record with four touchdown passes and two rushing touchdowns. He made one poor decision the entire game. His release is the fastest in the NFL. I found myself repeatedly uttering the phrase, "how do you cover THAT?"
So I'll leave it up to you Pats Pulpit: who is the better quarterback at the moment, Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady?