Green Bay Packers: Why Aaron Rodgers Will Go Down as a Top 10 QB All Time

The Packers currently sit at 5-0 and are clearly the NFL's best team. Dating back to last season, the Pack are at an 11-game winning streak.

It's no mystery as to what fuels the Packers' success. Yes, they have a future Hall of Famer in Charles Woodson. Yes, they have a solid defensive backfield that has featured the likes of Tramon Williams and Sam Shields. They have playmakers at the linebacker position in A.J. Hawk and Clay Matthews. They have one of the best young receivers in the league in Greg Jennings.

But Rodgers is the one who fuels the train.

Brett Favre recently made remarks about the Packers having a very talented team. It is true that the Packers are talented. They are pretty well-set at just about every position on the field. Not many teams can say that. But Rodgers is the one who controls the offense. He is the one who controls and dictates the tempo of the game.

The only other quarterback in the NFL who has that kind of command of the offense is Tom Brady. Maybe Drew Brees, too. After that, there is no quarterback in the NFL who can truly dictate the flow of a game.

Let's look at the Packers' running game situation. The Packers were 24th in rushing yards in 2010. They won the Super Bowl in spite of that. The Packers aren't any better this season, ranking 22nd in rushing yards. It is safe to say that the Packers have a below-average rushing attack.

In spite of this, the Packers' offense still runs better than any other offense in the NFL. This is mainly because of Aaron Rodgers. The Packers are first in the NFL in offense, scoring 34.6 points per game. The Patriots are second at a little over 32 points per game.

What are the similarities between the Packers and Patriots offense? Both have below-average rushing attacks, but they feature two of the best quarterbacks in the league right now. Because of these two quarterbacks, the Packers and the Patriots have the two best offenses in the NFL.

So what's the point, other than the fact that Rodgers is possibly the best quarterback in the game today, who leads the best team in the NFL despite the lack of a rushing attack?

The point is unlike in any other era of the NFL, quarterbacks can take over the game. I'm talking about truly taking over the game. This is possible due to the rules changes that have been taking place ever since Ty Law made Marvin Harrison's life miserable in the 2003 AFC Championship game.

That game is what led the NFL into changing the rules that prohibit defensive players from making contact with receivers past five yards of the line of scrimmage. Is it any coincidence that Peyton Manning immediately broke Dan Marino's 20-year-old record for touchdown passes in a single season? Is it any coincidence that Tom Brady broke it yet again in 2007? Is it any coincidence that you have several quarterbacks, including Brady, that have a legit chance of breaking Marino's passing yardage record of 5,084 yards?

That was the first step into making the NFL into a more offensive-driven league. Over the past couple of years, the NFL has now made changes to the rules that prohibit contact with quarterbacks at helmet-level. Similar rules apply to how a defensive player can hit a receiver.

The NFL is a passing league. This opinion has been cemented this year. Sixteen of the 32 teams in the NFL threw for over 300 yards in Week 1. There are currently eight quarterbacks with at least a 65 percent completion rate through five weeks.

So again, where am I going with this?

Rodgers is 27 years old. He's in the prime of his career. NBC recently showed a graphic during the Packers-Falcons game that Rodgers has the best QB rating of any quarterback in NFL history through his first 1,500 pass attempts. Rodgers also has the best TD-INT ratio at the time of his 100th TD pass in the history of the NFL.

Rodgers is getting better and better. With how good the Packers are, a dynasty is not out of the question. It's not far-fetched to say that Rodgers could have another Super Bowl this year. Maybe more after this year. At the end of the day, nobody knows how many Super Bowls Rodgers will have.

However, the chances do look good.

Barring some catastrophic injury, Rodgers should continue playing at the rate that he's playing. He is the first QB in the NFL history to throw for 4,000 yards in his first two seasons starting in the NFL.

Tom Brady is 34 years old, and within a few years he will likely be retired. Aaron Rodgers, as Dan Marino and Joe Montana did before him, should be considered the best QB in the NFL for the next several years.

Rodgers has the rare ability to make an offense look a lot better than they really are. Rodgers is the most accurate QB in the NFL. He's completing 72 percent of his passes. The NFL record is 70.6 percent by Brees in 2009. Rodgers is currently fourth in NFL history in completion percentage at 65.2 percent.

Now a lot of you are probably thinking to yourself, "Rodgers is only 27 years old, and although he has put up record-breaking numbers, a lot of things can happen that can slow down Rodgers' career other than injuries."

That's true. Look at Kurt Warner. Warner was on top of the world from 1999-2001. He looked invincible. Next thing you know, a few sacks here and there in 2002, and Warner wasn't the same again until he revived his career in Arizona in 2008.

This is where it should be different for Rodgers. Rodgers plays in a different era than a guy like Warner. The NFL is a league that caters to the quarterback. Rodgers won't be taking the hits that a guy like Warner used to take.

Why Rodgers should also continue succeeding at the rate that he's succeeding at is because of his mobility. Rodgers has great mobility for a quarterback. If a play is not there, he can prolong the play with his legs. He can even create plays with his legs, as evidenced by his 13 rushing touchdowns from 2008-2010.

Rodgers makes up for an average offensive line by getting the ball out as quickly as possible. Peyton Manning was the best at this for many years. Rodgers is arguably the best in the game right now at presnap reads. This was one of his weaknesses for the first two or so years since he became a starter.

The Packers' offensive line isn't much better than it was in 2009, but the reason why it looks a lot better is because of Rodgers' recognition of blitzers. It's his recognition to audible to quick passing plays, such as crossing routes, slants or hitch routes that make the Packers' offense run so smoothly.

There are only a handful of quarterbacks that I've seen dominate the playing field the way I've seen Rodgers do it for the past year. Dan Marino was one of them, Joe Montana was another, Manning did it for numerous years, as has Brady. Kurt Warner did it for three straight years.

Everything is in Aaron Rodgers' favor. He is a great quarterback in any era. However, with the rules bent the way they are now, it enables the quarterback to take over a game unlike in any previous era. It doesn't hurt that Aaron Rodgers possesses every skill necessary to be a hall-of- fame quarterback.

Barring injury, Aaron Rodgers will be a top 10 quarterback of all time when he decides to retire. In fact, that might be cutting him short. He has the potential, although it'll be hard considering he became a starter at 24, to be a top five QB all-time.

Of all of the quarterbacks in the game today not named Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers has the best chance of potentially becoming the greatest quarterback of all time. It won't be easy, but it's not out of the question.