5 Reasons Why Aaron Rodgers Is Your NFL MVP

Aaron Rodgers is the NFL's MVP.

There should be no argument. Rodgers has proven that he's not only the league's best quarterback, but the league's best player.

Do the Packers have talented players such as Clay Matthews and Greg Jennings? Sure.

But who is the player that makes the engine run? Who is the player that makes the Packers the team that they are?

It's Rodgers. Any other answer is wrong.

The most popular player people are arguing that deserves it more than Rodgers is Tom Brady.

Brady was the best quarterback in 2010. He had a phenomenal season where he threw just four interceptions and went about two consecutive months without throwing an interception.

However, since that point in time, Rodgers has won a Super Bowl, become Super Bowl MVP and established himself as the premier quarterback in the NFL.

Here are the five reasons why Rodgers is your NFL MVP—yes, even more so than Brady.

Rodgers Is Simply More Valuable

A lot is made out of the fact that the Patriots have the worst pass defense in the league.

You wanna know who's the second-worst? The Green Bay Packers.

If anything, the Packers defense is just as bad, if not worse than the Patriots. The Patriots rank 13th in scoring defense, allowing 20.6 points per game. The Packers on the other hand, rank 17th in the NFL, allowing 21.8 points per game.

A lot of people make a big deal out of the Patriots having a bad defense to somehow justify that Brady deserves the award over Rodgers. What's lost in this shuffle is that the Packers are actually worse than the Pats on defense.

Another reason why Rodgers is more valuable than Brady, look at the rushing games of both teams.

Are the Patriots an impressive rushing team? No. Are they better than the Packers? Yes.

The Packers ran 29th in rushing yards. They rank 29th in yards per attempt.

What do the Patriots rank? 21st in yards and 22nd in yards per attempt.

It is impressive what Brady has done despite the lack of support from his running backs and his defense.

What's the problem? Rodgers has simply done more with an even worse supporting cast.

That's not a knock on Brady. That's displaying just how good Rodgers has been in 2011.

Look at the Record

The Packers are 12-0 and seem destined for an undefeated season if they play their starters for the rest of the season.

The Patriots stand at an impressive 9-3 and tied at the top of the AFC Conference entering Week 14.

The issue is the Packers are undefeated. The Patriots are great, but they're not as great as the Packers. It's not even close at this point in time.

The Packers are riding an 18-game undefeated streak dating back to the 2010 regular season. It is the second-longest streak in NFL history.

Like the previous slide describes, Brady and the Patriots are great.  The problem is, their accomplishments fall short of Rodgers and the Packers.

Brady has been amazing. But Rodgers just has simply been better.

The Statistics

Rodgers simply is better than Brady in just about every statistical category that you can think of.

Rodgers is completing four percent more of his passes, has thrown seven more touchdowns, five less interceptions, has a quarterback rating nearly 20 points higher and is averaging nearly one more yard per attempt than Brady.

Where does the one category that Brady has Rodgers beat? Passing yards. A lot of that has to do with the fact that Brady has thrown the ball 51 more times than Rodgers as the yards per attempt stat displays.

If Rodgers is to maintain his current mark of 9.4 yards per attempt through the end of the season, it will be the third-best mark since 1955.

The Lack of Strong Competition

This is a combination of Rodgers having potentially the greatest quarterback season of all time and the fact that there just isn't much quality competition out there.

Which types of players tend to win the MVP award?

Either running backs or quarterbacks.

With running backs being more and more de-emphasized with each passing year due to the fact that the league has become a vertical passing league, there's no running back out there that you can name as having a chance when matched up against Rodgers' 2011 season.

So that leaves Drew Brees and Tom Brady.

Both are having great seasons and might simultaneously break Dan Marino's single-season passing yardage record, but it's simply not enough to outmatch Rodgers' 2011 season.

Hell, Rodgers himself might also break the record. He's just 82 yards back of Brady's mark.

There Is No Argument

How do you judge if player A is more valuable than player B, or vice versa?

One way is statistics. That's in Rodgers' favor. Check.

Another way is by looking at team record. That's also in Rodgers' favor. Check

A third way of looking at it, is the supporting cast. The Packers have a worse defense and a worse rushing attack. That's obviously in Rodgers' favor. Check.

The last main way that I can think of, is the film.

When you watch film of Brady and Rodgers this year, it is clear who is the better quarterback. Rodgers does not have the offensive line that Brady has, yet, has managed to be a better quarterback and make his team better than Brady has.

Rodgers has been sacked eight more times than Brady has. You'd be hard-pressed to name many top tier offensive lineman on the Packers when compared to the Patriots.

Rodgers excels at pre-snap reads, getting the ball out quickly and taking advantage of his good, but not great cast of receivers.

Brady has arguably a top-three receiver in the game today in Wes Welker. As good as Greg Jennings is, he is not an elite receiver.

The Packers' receivers look better than they really are because of Rodgers. Does Brady also do this? Yes.

However, Rodgers has been better than Brady.

Yes, Welker has a ton of receptions. Yes, Rob Gronkowski is breaking a bunch of receiving touchdown records for tight ends.

But there's a reason Rodgers outmatches Brady in just about every statistical category out there and it's because he has mastered the art of playing quarterback just about as well as a player can.

When it comes to making an argument for Brady over Rodgers, people have to resort to hypotheticals.

"If the Packers didn't have Rodgers, I'd guarantee they'd be playing for the NFC North division title. However, if the Pats didn't have Brady, they'd be playing for third or fourth place in the AFC East."

What supports that argument?

The Packers are worse defensively and when it comes to rushing the football when compared to the Patriots. The Pats have been an 11-win team without Brady and with Matt Cassel starting at quarterback.

Cassel hadn't started a football game since high school. Did he have a good 2010 year? Yes. But he's no more than a mediocre quarterback. His 2011 season has shown that. That's not adding the fact that he wasn't even one of the original three AFC quarterbacks selected to the Pro Bowl initially.

The Packers lost their one game without Rodgers in recent years.

Brady is the second-best quarterback in the league. In my opinion, he's a top-three quarterback all time.

But the question is, who's the 2011 NFL MVP?

The answer is Rodgers. There simply is no other answer.