NFL Honors 2012: Why Aaron Rodgers Was Robbed for Offensive Player of the Year

Far too often the player who takes home the NFL's MVP award somehow doesn't win the Offensive Player of the Year award as well. That happened again this year as Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was named the league's MVP, while New Orleans Saints signal-caller Drew Brees was give the Offensive Player of the Year award. While Brees had an outstanding season, Rodgers was the league's best offensive player.

During the regular season, Rodgers completed 343 of 502 passes (68.3 percent) for 4,643 yards, with 45 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He led the league in yards per attempt (9.25) and his quarterback rating of 122.5 broke the single-season NFL record. He accomplished all of that in 15 games, as he sat out Green Bay's regular season finale against the Detroit Lions.

As stated before, Brees had an outstanding season. The 33-year-old completed 468 of 657 passes for an NFL-record 5,476 yards, with 46 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He led the league in completion percentage (71.2) and was second in passer rating (110.6). 

Those are phenomenal numbers for Brees, but the simple fact is that Rodgers led the Packers to a 15-1 record, and for the entire season Green Bay had the most efficient offense in the NFL. The 28-year-old Cal product consistently got all of his weapons involved and led the highest scoring unit in the league (35.0 points per game). 

Rodgers also made getting his weapons involved a priority this season and it showed, as seven different Packers caught 25 or more passes. That is simply remarkable.

Brees had a fantastic season, and in any other year he likely would have run away with the MVP award. But this year Rodgers was quite simply the NFL's best offensive player and he was robbed of the award.