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We interrupt Randy Moss’ continued coverage, claiming that he is the best receiver of all time to address Aaron Rodger’s statement that he should have twice the number of MVP awards in the league he currently holds.
The comments came in the context of his acknowledgment that winning a third MVP award would mean “certainly a lot”. Rodgers suggested that in 2012, Adrian Peterson’s delayed accusation of a one-season speed record prevented Rodgers from winning the award and that Rodgers should have won it in 2016 as well.
Rodgers is partially right in 2012. Peterson’s incredible game of Week 17 against the Packers disrupted the presumption of the MVP award. However, Rodgers did not lose the MVP because of it; but for Peterson’s 199-yard game against the Packers, Peyton Manning would have become the MVP. Indeed, Peterson got 30.5 out of 50 votes. The other 19.5 went to Manning. Rodgers did not receive any.
In many ways, Rodgers had a better year than Manning. Rodgers had 39 touchdown passes and Manning had 37. Rodgers had a pass rating of 108.0 and Manning’s was 105.8. But Peyton had 4,659 yards and Rodgers had 4,295. Manning’s team also finished 13-3 and won No. 1 in the AFC. The Packers went 11-5 and didn’t even secure one of the two byes in the first round of the NFC.
Manning also benefited from the fact that he was returning from a lost season, one that included several neck surgeries and the real worry that Manning might never play again or that he would never be the same player as him. . Its performance has been amplified given the wider context. We’ve been expecting greatness from Rodgers since he was MVP in 2011. We didn’t know what to expect from Peyton.
For 2016, Rodgers’ statement is also wrong. He finished fourth in the passer rating, fourth in total yards, thirteenth in test yards and ninth in completion percentage. Yes, he led the league with 40 touchdown passes, but that wasn’t enough to beat Matt Ryan’s special season, which culminated in a 117.1 pass rating.
The Packers also finished No. 4 in the NFC that year.
The vote reflected the reality that Ryan deserved the award that year. He received 25 out of 50 votes, Tom Brady received 10, Ezekiel Elliot received six, Derek Carr (Derek Carr!) received six, Rodgers received two, and Dak Prescott received one.
So to sum it up, in one of the years that Rodgers thinks he could have been an MVP, he finished in a 1,694 tie for third, with zero votes. In the other year, he thinks he should have been MVP, he finished fifth with two votes, 33% of the amount received by Derek Carr.
Rodgers cannot claim that voters have a bias against him or anything like that because he has won a pair of MVP awards. He simply did not win as many as he thought he should have. Even if the duo seems to have repaired the fences and resolved the differences, Rodgers may be well aware of the fact that he won one less MVP than Brett Favre.
Maybe this is the year Rodgers gets to 3rd place. Maybe he should. Packers fans definitely prefer to win the second Super Bowl MVP award. Since Kurt Warner in 1999, the regular season MVP has not won a much more significant MVP trophy (in a team sport).