Life is good for birthday boy Aaron Rodgers.
The Green Bay quarterback turns 31 today, is dating actress Olivia Munn and is coming off a well-deserved victory over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
At the three-quarter mark of the NFL regular season Rodgers has emerged as the clear front-runner for Most Valuable Player (he's 1/2 with Ladbrokes, while Peyton Manning, JJ Watt and Tom Brady are all tied at 8s). And to help make our case, here are 12 reasons why the Packers' number 12 stands alone as the best player in the NFL:
1. He is the King at Lambeau Field.
Rodgers has put together some ungodly numbers up at home, where he hasn't thrown an interception in exactly TWO YEARS. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have each given up the ball twice at home this season. Rodgers has thrown 20 touchdowns in six wins at Lambeau this season, where Green Bay have been blowing away the opposition, amassing half-time leads of 28-0, 28-3, 30-6 and 42-0 in the four games they hosted before last week's potential Super Bowl preview against the Pats.
2. Pass rush in his face. Moving the other way. Throwing across his body. Easy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKn6RMo_tOY
3. His footwork is unparalleled
Running quarterbacks . Mobile quarterbacks. Scrambling quarterbacks. Buzzwords which have come to describe the recent influx of signal callers that are a much of a threat with their legs as their arms. Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson and Robert Griffin all fit somewhere in that spectrum, either through elusiveness or sheer speed, but none can match Rodgers, who can scramble for crucial yardage when necessary but can also dance around in the pocket before delivering a killer pass downfield. Watch him dance around the pocket for what seems like an eternity in Sunday's win over the Patriots:
4. There is nobody better throwing on the run
5. He can strike anytime, from anywhere.
Rodgers needs no time to settle into the game is the most dangerous quarterback in the league in his own half, already throwing seven touchdowns of greater that 40 yards this season. Much of that is down to the work of his receivers, but his aforementioned mobility combined with the cannon attached to his right shoulder means he can connect on a long bomb downfield at any time.
6. There are Patriots still biting on this pump fake...
7. Leadership
At 1-2 and coming off a bad defeat at the hands of division rivals Detroit and a Week 1 thrashing at the hands of Super Bowl champions Seattle, the state of Wisconsin was about to lose its mind. Not Rodgers though, who went on local sports radio and told fans to 'R-E-L-A-X. We're going to be OK.' Not only did the quarterback's complete confidence ease the fears of Packer Nation, it also seeped through the squad, who have since gone 8-1 and marched into first place in the NFC.
8. Nobody open. No problem.
9. Trust in his team-mates
Rodgers has been lucky to play with some formidable talent but part of what makes him so good is that he has just as much faith in rookies and replacements as his elite colleagues. The center position has been a revolving door in Green Bay, but when fifth-round rookie Corey Linsley stepped in this season, Rodgers had the same expectations of him as anyone else, and was confident he would deliver. In Miami (see below), with the game on the line, Rodgers threw to rookie receiver Davante Adams on an unplanned fake spike play, and trusted the youngster would know to get out of bounds with the clock running down.
10.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtfFRArHHA8
11. He is relentless
You've just cruised to a 35-0 lead against your arch-rivals, who fumble the ball back to you with a minute to go until half-time. What do you do? For Rodgers, the answer was to ram it down the Chicago Bears' throats, throwing a sixth touchdown pass of the day in just 48 seconds.
12. Even his ads are watchable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxjCJxfECD8
